Voice from the Past

He hasn't been a Rochesterian for almost seven years now, but George Fisher, former chairman and CEO of Kodak, is back in the news.

He's the lead independent director at General Motors Corp., which is perhaps the most troubled of all the auto companies. Yesterday he issued a vote of confidence on behalf of the board for that company's chief exec, Rick Wagoner. Read the statement here and stories about the subject from the Detroit Free Press and the Detroit News.

Interestingly enough, the Free Press story lists Fisher as a senior adviser to Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., the private equity firm made famous in the takeover struggle involving RJR Nabisco in the 1980s. That saga was chronicled in the book, Barbarians at the Gate, later made into a movie.

Fortune writes about KKR and mentions Fisher here, as does a newspaper published by the Harvard Business School here.

Here's a little dot to connect, then: Yesterday, an investor group led by affiliates of KKR bought a majority stake in GMAC, GM's financing arm.