Robert P. Fichter

FICHTER, Robert Peter, of Boston, died peacefully at 86 at his home at the Chestnut Park Assisted Living Residence in Brighton. He was taken by dementia and complications from a recent stroke. In his final illness and passing, he was cared for with tremendous kindness and skill by the staff of Chestnut Park and the Hands and Hearts Hospice.
Born Dover, New Jersey, April 1, 1938 and raised in nearby Rockaway, New Jersey, Robert was a graduate of The Lawrenceville School, Harvard College, Harvard University, the Haileybury School (Hertfordshire, England) and New College (Oxford, England). While in college, he was the editor of The Harvard Advocate, a student literary magazine founded in 1873.
His professional life was a journey from academia to municipal government to the banking industry, from which he retired early to pursue twin passions: the study of foreign languages and ballroom dancing. He continued with both through the last days of his life.
Even as his dementia grew more serious, Robert never ceased to be interested in the world around him, in politics, cultural and social change, technology, travel, and the well-being of his daughter, granddaughter, sister, and a few close friends.
Robert was gifted with a love of and facility for all forms of language, and was the author of several publications as well as innumerable letters, notes, and messages - many written with his uniquely wry sense of humor - to friends, colleagues, family members, and people he met once. He co-edited Freedom to Build: Dweller Control of the Housing Process (1972), and was the moving force behind multiple journals - including Neighborhood Evolution: A Closer Look; Young Professionals and City Neighborhoods; and Boston's Triple Deckers, all while Director of the City of Boston Parkman Center for Urban Affairs. He also took great pride in authoring and editing a newsletter on the Massachusetts banking industry.
Although he cherished his small-town roots in New Jersey, Robert fully adopted Boston as his home, and loved the city and its neighborhoods, its ups and downs, its architecture, its accents, its parks and museums, its newspapers, and its politics. He was very proud to have become a Bostonian, proud of his contributions to its success, and proud of how the city has changed and grown over the past several decades.
Robert's longest and most abiding love was for railroads, particularly the historic railroads of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Not only did he ride and photograph trains all over the world - most notably, the historic steam engines of Cuba, before the country opened for general travel - he was a hobbyist who built his own layouts, collected a wide variety of model engines, and became a competent amateur carpenter, electrician, and painter in the process. Many elements of his final collection have found a home with the North Andover Historical Society, where they are available for public enjoyment.
The son of Robert John Fichter and Ludmila Fichter (Flagge), both of Rockaway, New Jersey and both now passed, Robert leaves behind a younger sister, Ludmila, of Blairstown, New Jersey; a daughter, Kate, of Somerville; a granddaughter, Ella, a student at Barnard College in New York City; his former wife, Abigail, of Boston; and close friends Mo and Joerg Klinkert of Heidelberg, Germany. He is mourned by other friends and family, particularly Saori Kamiya, his dance instructor and dance partner for many years. Throughout his long decline from dementia, he was supported by the compassion, kindness, and unflagging professionalism of many, many people.
All funeral services are private.