DAVID FISHER

FISHER--David I. Longtime Capital Group Chairman and Portfolio Manager David Fisher passed away on March 21, 2025. He was 85. Hailed as the father of emerging markets investing, Fisher was a philanthropist, civic leader, and global investment trailblazer.
Fisher held a wide range of investment and leadership roles during his 47-year career at Capital including Capital Group Chairman and Director of Capital Group Inter- national. He helped the company expand globally from approximately $1.5 billion when he joined in 1969 to over $1.5 trillion under management when he retired in 2017.

Fisher began his career at General Electric, working under the legendary Jack Welch. He joined Capital in 1969 as an analyst covering electrical equipment. As the Japanese consumer electronics revolution got underway, Fisher found himself in Japan, on his first trip overseas. It was the beginning of a passion for travel and a desire to understand different people and cultures that fueled his career. After a decade as Research Director at Capital, Fisher took on the role of leading the firm's international investment operations. By 1982, he'd established the firm's first Asia outpost in Tokyo.

Fisher's relentless travel, interest in politics and research background convinced him that emerging markets had an important role to play in the global investment landscape, and he was determined to bring overlooked countries into focus at Capital. As then-Cap- ital Group Director Bob Kirby told Charles Ellis in his book Capital, "David Fisher is the one who said, 'This is where the future lies. Let's go for it!'" And the firm seemed built for the challenge. Under the leadership of Jon Lovelace, Capital had pioneered bottom-up investing, digging into the companies and initiatives it backed instead of relying on macro- trends. Capital applied its long-term, research-oriented approach to invest in Global and Emerging Markets.

In 1986, Capital Group made its first investments in emerging markets. Undeterred by the scarcity of investment data in the sector, Fisher built the business on Capital best practices: deep research; a long-term, often contrarian point of view; and a boots-on-the-ground approach to learning about new countries. Great local partnerships were a key to his strategy and benefited from his deep curiosity and respect for people. As Ellis noted, Fisher's approach was to say, "'We think we may be able to be helpful to you, but we know we could learn a lot from you as we try to increase our ability to understand this important region of the world.'"

As one country after another opened to international markets, Fisher became known as the father of emerging markets investing. In 1988, he helped create the Europe, Australia, Far East (EAFE) Index (now the MSCI Indices), which became the global standard for measuring international investment results. He helped to reshape the financial landscape, creating opportunities for many countries and millions of ordinary investors.

Fisher always brought his big heart, interest in people, and love of fun to his work. As Capital International Vice-Chair John Emerson explained, "David had an insatiable intellectual curiosity, loved meeting and learning about people, and had a mischievous sense of fun." A consummate practical joker (but never a mean one), he brought levity to otherwise-staid business meetings: he had a habit of hiding people's shoes, including, once, then-Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin's. Former Capital Portfolio Manager Nilly Sikorski remembers leaving a hotel meeting with Fisher and being stopped by a security guard demanding to search her bag. "He found in it," she recalls, "a silver spoon, and accused me of stealing from the hotel. Of course, David had put the spoon in my bag, organized the whole thing and had all my colleagues laughing at my shocked face. For years, I often found spoons in my handbag."

Fisher kept a framed Zen Buddhist maxim in his office: "The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure." It was an axiom that he lived by. Family vacations were taken not on the beach in Florida or Hawaii, but to places like Russia, India, Vietnam and Cuba. Fisher's family saw breadlines in Russia and watched the effects of hyperinflation in Brazil in real time.

Fisher's signature phrase with new acquaintances was, "tell me about you." He loved bringing people together, and he had a gift for asking the right probing questions and engaging people in deep conversation. Countless business and political leaders dined and debated at his Pacific Palisades home including Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi and President Bill Clinton. Fisher hosted President Barack Obama's first fundraiser after his game-changing Iowa win in 2008.

Fisher was a committed philanthropist: as Capital President Rob Lovelace recalls, "David always made a point of emphasizing the importance of giving back - he would open some internal meetings with an icebreaker for everyone to share an organization they were involved with. It sent such a lovely message that giving back is a priority and it's good for us to share with each other." He served on the board of a long list of nonprofit organizations, including Harvard-Westlake School, the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, the Lowe Institute of Political Economy at Claremont McKenna College, the Alliance for College-Ready Schools, CalArts, the Brookings In-stitution, and the USC Annenberg Center on Communication Leadership and Policy. He was a trustee emeritus of the J. Paul Getty Trust and a founding board member who helped build Los Angeles's Getty Center.

Fisher was born in Bellmore, NY on September 17, 1939. His mother suffered from arthritis and to escape Northeast winters, his parents bought the eight-room El Prado motel in Palm Springs in the mid-1940s. Young Fisher worked in the motel, doing everything from making beds to cleaning the pool to welcoming guests. He spent his summers in New York, working at a local lumber yard. In high school, he was the editor of the school newspaper and a sports reporter for a local paper.

Fisher attended UC Berkeley on an ROTC scholarship, majoring in communications and public policy. After graduation, he served as an Army sergeant in Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri. He earned an MBA from the University of Missouri through a military scholarship.

Deeply committed to family, Fisher brought his curiosity, love of adventure, and belief in fun to family life. He travelled the world with his wife, Marianna Fisher, who he met at Capital and who was his key partner in work and life. He believed in challenging his children and grandchildren - and he encouraged them to dream big, telling them, "you move in the direction of your fantasies." A great sports fan and a voracious consumer of news, Fisher read four newspapers a day, and he slept with news radio playing.

David Fisher's life was a testament to the power of vision, dedication, and genuine human connection. He was a brilliant investor and he transformed the world of finance. His infectious enthusiasm and unwavering optimism will be missed, but his spirit will live on in the countless individuals he inspired. He was a true pioneer, a remarkable leader, and a man who made the world a much better place.

He is survived by the love of his life, Marianna Fisher, his wife of 48 years, his children Nicole Fisher, Damon Fisher, Elizabeth "Lizzie" Fisher Marshall, Peter Fisher, Alexandra "Ali" Fisher Sweet, and 17 grandchildren.