June Fisher

Dr. June Fisher, pioneering physician, product designer, and advocate for human-centered design, passed away on November 28, 2024, in San Francisco. She was 91.
Dr. Fisher's work bridged the worlds of medicine, design, and social justice, leaving an indelible mark on each field.
Born on June 10, 1933, in Elizabeth, New Jersey, to Nat and Minnie Fisher, June graduated from Yonkers High School before pursuing her chemistry degree at Barnard College. She went on to earn her medical degree from SUNY Downstate and completed her residency at Stanford Medical School.
While serving as director of occupational health at San Francisco General Hospital, Dr. Fisher's career took a pivotal turn during the AIDS crisis. Concerned about healthcare workers' exposure to needle sticks, she began exploring product design solutions, leading her to a new calling. This pursuit brought her back to Stanford University, where she earned a lectureship in the Product Design program, serving for a decade.
June's innovative work extended beyond the classroom. In 1978, she established and led a groundbreaking medical clinic for San Francisco transit operators, transforming routine physical examinations into collaborative research on workplace stress and safety. This project exemplified her commitment to participatory action research and worker empowerment.
As a product designer and consultant, Dr. Fisher worked with numerous startups developing technological solutions for older adults. Dr. Fisher championed the principle "Design with us, not for us," an approach that transformed how products and services are developed for older adults.
As a teacher and mentor, June's expertise and nurturing touched countless students at the University of California-Berkeley, California College of Arts, and San Francisco State University, where she worked alongside Professor Ricardo Gomes. In 2016, her team's dedication was recognized with first prize in The Stanford Center on Longevity International Design Challenge.
For over five decades, Dr. Fisher made her home in San Francisco's Noe Valley neighborhood, where she generously opened her doors to friends, relatives, and students, creating a vibrant hub of intellectual exchange and warm hospitality and displayed her extensive collection of handcrafted pottery. A lifelong activist for human rights and social justice, she remained consistently committed to these causes in both word and deed. In her last years she was cared for lovingly and supportively by her home health aide, Sisilia Ohai.
She was predeceased by her brother Len Fisher (2011), sister-in-law Mimi Fisher, and close cousin Alita Letwin and cousin in-law Leon Letwin. She is survived by the descendants of the Fisher and Zuravel families: her niece Nadine Gomes and nephew Dan Fisher, and cousins Toba Green, Michael, Dan, and David Letwin, Robert and Ben Hoffman, Lyn Pentecost, Wendy Tiefenbacher, Issar Smith, and Mickey and Will Pentecost and Tina Huang, along with four great nephews and many younger cousins.