Ralph T. Fisher Jr.

1920 - 2015
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Obituary for Ralph Talcott Fisher, Jr.-April 5th, 1920 to April 4th, 2015

Ralph Talcott Fisher, Jr., 94. professor of history at the University of Illinois. A memorial service will be held at Clark Lindsey Retirement Community, Urbana, IL.

Ralph was the son of Ralph Talcott Fisher of Oakland, California, and Margaret Merriam of Newburyport, Massachusetts. He was reared in Oakland, graduated from UC Berkeley majoring in history, Class of 1942. After earning the rank of major serving in the U.S. Army  in China, he obtained  his master's degree from UC Berkeley, then a PhD in Russian and East European history from Columbia. He taught for 6 years at Yale, working closely with George Vernadsky and Sergei Pushkariev. 

In 1957 he became a professor of history at the University of Illinois. In 1959, Ralph was instrumental in the founding of the Russian, East European, and Eurasian Center (REEEC) at the University of Illinois, of which he was director from 1959 until 1987. Collaborating with librarians Larry Miller, Marianna Tax Choldin, and others, Ralph led the effort to build an outstanding research library in the Russian and East European field. This decision to focus on the library, and beginning in 1972, on the Summer Research Laboratory, helped attract eminent faculty and scholars world-wide to the University. Ralph officially retired in May 1988.


Ralph is predeceased by his brother and best friend Galen Reid Fisher of Berkeley. He is survived by his wife of 72 years Ruth Meads, of Berkeley, social worker, their three children and five  grandchildren, and also his sister Margaret Fisher Mellen, of Walnut Creek and sister-in-law Mary Ann Quackenbush Fisher of Berkeley.

Memorial donations may be sent to the Ralph and Ruth Fisher Endowment Fund #773497: !
University of Illinois Foundation ! P.O. Box 3429
Champaign, IL 61821-3429!