Auto dealer Fischer tapped to be Morocco ambassador

President Donald Trump has nominated Suburban Collection Chairman and CEO David Fischer to be the U.S. Ambassador in Morocco.

Suburban Collection is one of the largest automotive dealership groups in the country and the largest privately held auto group in Michigan.

Fischer is a prominent philanthropist and political donor who backed Republican Mitt Romney’s failed 2012 presidential campaign and donated $250,000 toward Trump’s inauguration in January.

He also donated $200,000 to former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s Right to Rise Political Action Committee in 2015 before Bush dropped out of the nomination battle in early 2016.

Fischer introduced Romney at a February 2012 campaign event at Ford Field in Detroit where the former Massachusetts governor outlined his economic plan before a Michigan primary he won on his way to the nomination.

Fischer helped raise $55 million for the $145 million renovation of the Argonaut Building in Detroit’s Midtown, according to the Suburban Collection. He has also been a member of the Judicial Tenure Commission in Detroit since 2012.

Morocco, nestled between Spain and Algeria on Africa’s northwestern coast, has a population of about 34 million people. Its economy is based primarily on agriculture, tourism, the automotive industry, phosphates, textiles and apparel, according to the Central Intelligence Agency.

Another Michiganian — U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, from Holland — was confirmed earlier in November as the U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands.

mgerstein@detroitnews.com