As Kenneth Fisher talks about the Fisher House Foundation, the conversation doesn’t start with the milestones or even numbers. It begins and ends with family.
“The whole family serves,” he said. “It’s not just the man or woman who wears the uniform, but their entire family. They make sacrifices and bear burdens that the average American just will not understand.”
It’s a conviction that has shaped his leadership style and life, from his roots in a New York real-estate family to his role as chairman and CEO of the Fisher House Foundation, chairman of the Intrepid Museum, and his voice on the recovery and care of America’s warriors.
Fisher grew up in the Bronx before the family moved to Westchester when he was 12 years old. After graduating from Ithaca College in 1980, he joined the family business.
“You’re kind of led in that direction,” he reflected. “You know there’s a family business, and it was successful, and I felt an obligation to join that business and hopefully make it stronger. I didn’t expect to be where I am today, but that’s a different story.”
It’s a story that would unfortunately unfold through tragedy and a deepening sense of responsibility to the military community.
The Fisher House Foundation begins with his uncle, the late Zachary Fisher. A knee injury during a construction job accident prevented him from joining the military and fighting for his country during World War II, something he regretted all his life.
But it never dimmed his respect for America’s armed forces.
“He considered the military our greatest national treasure,” Fisher explained.
His uncle received a phone call from a nurse at Naval Medical Center Bethesda who’d witnessed a family dropping their bags in the hospital lobby, with nowhere to stay as they rushed off to see their loved one. His response to that nurse was immediate and recalled by Fisher with admiration:
“Look, I’m a builder. I have access to an architect. I know how to build a house.”
It was that immediate impulse to solve a need that led to the first Fisher House.
In the late 1990s, Ken Fisher dedicated the third Fisher House on Lackland Air Force Base near San Antonio when his uncle Zachary was too ill to make it. It was a formidable experience.
“That changed a lot,” he added. “I had always thought about being philanthropic but not to the degree that I became. That was a turning point.”
The family lost Zachary Fisher in 1999. Another tragedy came in 2003 as the Fisher family suffered multiple losses, including two of Ken’s cousins who were expected to be in leadership roles.
Their deaths thrust Ken into responsibilities he had never anticipated, both within the business and the family’s signature philanthropic efforts.
“In 2003, my role in the company changed, and that’s when I took over Fisher House Foundation in earnest,” he recalled.
Despite wearing multiple hats, Fisher has a deep passion for the work that has no end in sight.
“As far as you know, Fisher House, that’s a major part of my life, but so is, you know, the Intrepid Museum,” Fisher shared. “That’s where it all started, when Zach saved the Intrepid from the scrap heap and converted it into a museum, air, sea, and space museum that basically is devoted to honoring the sacrifices and the burdens and service.”
The terrorist attacks of 9/11 completely changed the plans the Fisher Family had and profoundly impacted the work they were doing. As service members returned from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, it was clear the system was not prepared for the volume or the complexity of their wounds or the needs of their families.
President George W. Bush appointed Fisher to serve on the President’s Commission on Care for America’s Returning Wounded Warriors, a role he described as both an honor and a stark education.
“We weren’t prepared for the kind of wounds and the number of wounded that were coming back,” he explained. “Serving on the commission was vital, because it really studied the system from the eyes of the wounded soldier, and we were solution-driven. We all were passionate about what we were doing.”
As the Fisher House Foundation grew, it evolved beyond brick-and-mortar homes. According to Fisher, one of the most meaningful expansions has been adding adaptive sports programming.
The team was able to see families go from their most distressed at a Fisher House to witness what came after a long rehabilitation process.
“It allowed us to see what happens after the journey,” Fisher said. “Where before we saw a lot of uncertainty and a lot of frowns, we saw smiles and happiness and a celebration of that journey they undertook together.”
According to Fisher, adaptive sports did more than heal bodies; they transformed people.
“They weren’t wounded warriors anymore,” he shared. “They were athletes. They were competitors.”
In 2016, Fisher played a key role in executing the Invictus Games. The international event brought in more than 500 competitors from the allied nations.
“Bringing them to Orlando was a major undertaking,” he remembered. “I didn’t need another ball in the air, but it was too compelling.”
Working with Prince Harry and partners around the world, Fisher helped create what felt like a “mini Olympics” for wounded, ill, and injured service members and veterans.
As Fisher reflects on his legacy at the helm, he’s proud of what his team has accomplished. Today, there are more than 100 Fisher Houses, and they’ve served nearly 600,000 families.
“Fisher House is beautiful in its simplicity,” Fisher shared. “Our mission is to build a Fisher House wherever one is needed.”
While the numbers tell one story, he insists it’s the people behind the mission.
“I’m proud of what Fisher House has done,” he said. “But I’m even prouder that we’ve stayed true to the vision. When you have people who believe in that, you get a situation where the mission comes first every single day.”
In that way, the houses built in his uncle’s name are more than buildings. They are reflections of how Fisher sees the world: that in our hardest moments, we don’t need to stand alone in a hospital corridor with our bags at our feet.
We deserve a place that feels like home, surrounded by the people we love.
For America’s military and veteran families, Fisher has spent his life making sure that place always exists.
Don’t Miss the Best of We Are The Mighty
• Robert Zachery is a father, founder, and a quiet force behind Team Capers
• Amber Capone turned despair into a lifeline for hundreds of veterans
• How Rodney Smith, Jr. got 6,000 American kids mowing lawns for veterans
Loading comments…
Comments couldn’t be loaded. Please refresh the page.