Henry J. Fisher

Elected to The Century in 1916, Henry Fisher spent nearly fifty of his ninety-one years in our Association. He could remember service in the Spanish-American War when, in his middle twenties, he was a member of New York’s Troop A, later expanded into Squadron A. And he could remember, too, many changes in American magazine publishing which reflected the mutations of our society in that revolutionary period.

A Centurion friend and colleague writes: “The only observation I would make about Harry Fisher was that he exemplified the Greek admonition: Moderation in all things. He was a wise, extremely well-balanced person who enjoyed both outdoor sports and the competitive game of magazine publishing. He was very good at both and won the respect of his associates through his fair-mindedness, his concentration and his ability to master any activity in which he took part.”

Henry Johnson Fisher was born in Marion, Ohio, in 1873; he was educated at Phillips Andover and at Yale from which he graduated in 1896. Soon after he left college, he entered the magazine publishing business as advertising manager and vice-president of the Frank A. Munsey Company. Successively, he was vice-president of the Crowell Publishing Company, chairman of the board of the Popular Science Publishing Company, and chairman of the finance committee of the McCall Corporation. In 1923, he became director of the executive committee of Harper and Brothers, a post he retained till 1955.

Henry Fisher was active in civic leadership. He was president of the Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital, chairman of the English-Speaking Union of the United States, president of the United Hospital Fund of New York, and chairman of the Y.M.C.A. and of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. He was also active in the New York Welfare Council.

Roger Burlingame
1966 Century Association Yearbook