Robert George Fisher Jr

Robert George Fisher, Jr., 1947 – 2021

 Fair winds and following seas, sailor.  We have the watch.

Robert George Fisher, Jr., aka Skip, Bob, and Papa, of Zionsville, Indiana, passed away unexpectedly, but peacefully, on Friday, October 15, 2021.  He was in view of his dearly loved Lake Freeman, where he enjoyed nearly twenty years of memories with his wife, daughter and son and their spouses, grandsons and extended family/friends.

Bob was born April 9, 1947 to the late Robert G. Fisher, Sr. and Jeanne E. Weber.  He graduated from East Hartford, CT High School, and enrolled in 1965 at Susquehanna University in Pennsylvania, where he was the president of his fraternity, Theta Chi. His world forever changed in 1966 at a campus mixer; he asked a girl to dance, but Donna Hilton, thinking he was pointing at her, said “yes.” In what would become their characteristic way of showing their profound affection for each other, he countered “I wasn’t talking to you.” They danced anyway, and thus began their great love affair of almost 55 years.

After he graduated in 1969, Bob enrolled in the Naval Flight Program and married Donna on December 27 while on leave from Basic Training in Pensacola. He flew as a navigator in the A-5 Vigilante and later served as a communications officer on DE-1073, USS Robert E. Peary. Lieutenant Fisher served in the Vietnam War and finished out his tour in Pearl Harbor.

Bob left the Navy in 1972 and, after daughter Lauren was born in California, joined United Technologies Carrier for a long career that would take him from Pennsylvania, where son Doug was born, to Indiana in 1979. Bob retired from Carrier in 2008.

Like his father before him, Bob proudly served his country, but his primary devotion was to the family he built with Donna, that grew to include Lauren’s husband, Brent, and their boys Owen and Max, and Doug’s wife, Amy, and their boys Charlie and Robert. While Lauren and Doug were kids, Bob coached baseball, softball, and soccer, served as a Cub Scout Den Leader, and was an original founder of the Brownsburg girls soccer league. Through his vestry service at St. Augustine Episcopal Church, Bob volunteered every October cooking steaks at the Beasley Apple Orchard. He was a lifetime member of the American Legion and the VFW.  In retirement, he loved serving on the Boards of Directors of the Broad Ripple Optimist Club and Healthcare Initiatives, Inc., volunteering for the Zionsville Lions Club, participating in the Central Indiana Austin Healy Club, and traveling the world with Donna, his family, and his friends.  Above all else, he adored spending time with his grandsons: doing projects, teaching them how to use tools and “sweat a pipe,” taking them on trips abroad, telling his famous “Dotty and Botty” stories, brainstorming “Nana and Papa Mondays” and driving around in his Colorado red 1966 Austin Healy 3000.

Bob had the uncanny ability to make everyone around him laugh. He would squeeze your head and talk about himself in the third person, start a Christmas conga line in the family room, or deliver a joke with his distinctively deep chuckle.  He was a true Renaissance man; a fisherman, sailor, coin collector, electrician, plumber, carpenter, expert picture hanger, labeler, debater, certified scuba diver and the general supervisor of all family home improvement projects.  He fancied himself a cook, canine trainer, technology specialist and talented at most games, particularly Charades, but while those skills are up for debate, this is not: above all else, Bob was, simply put, the best husband, father, father-in-law and Papa.  He was the patriarch of the Fisher family in the truest sense.  As his nephew’s wife so aptly stated this week, he always made sure that family stayed connected.  He is irreplaceable.  He will be sorely missed.

Bob is survived by his wife, Donna, his children Lauren (Brent), Doug (Amy), his four grandsons, Owen, Charlie, Max and Robert; his sisters Valerie, Pamela (Terry), stepmother Anne (Robert, Sr.), numerous nieces/nephews and other family members and friends, all of whom will miss him dearly. Following a private memorial service, a public visitation will be held on Thursday, October 21, 2021, from 3-6 pm at Flanner & Buchanan in Zionsville.  Memorial donations can be made to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society at www.lls.org/article/tribute-and-memorial-gifts.