Fisher Brothers’ Arnold Fisher (Getty)
Arnold Fisher, second-generation scion of a century-old New York City real estate dynasty, died on Sunday at 89.
Arnold helped manage his family’s eponymous firm, Fisher Brothers, through New York City’s development boom in the 1980s, and led the construction of more than 15 million square feet of commercial and residential property, according to the company, including four office towers in Midtown.
He became the singular generational bridge for the company in the 2000s, helping his sons Kenneth and Steven learn the business after the deaths of his father, Larry — the final first-generation Fisher brother — and his cousins Richard and Anthony.
The transition period marked a quiet time for the firm, but ultimately helped it maintain a conservative financial posture and avoid costly investments in overheated property markets ahead of the 2008 financial crash.
Fisher Brothers was formed in 1915 by Arnold’s uncles, Martin and Zachary, and his father, the sons of a Russian bricklayer who emigrated to Brooklyn at the turn of the century.
After a generation of primarily residential investment, Arnold helped steer Fisher Brothers toward its first major commercial developments. Starting in the early 1960s, the firm built office towers at 605 Third Avenue, 299 Park Avenue, 1345 Sixth Avenue and Park Avenue Plaza, which combine for more than 5 million square feet and helped define the facade of American corporatism in the go-go 1980s. Park Avenue Plaza, for example, boasts 12 corner offices per floor thanks to its chevron-shaped design.
By the early 2010s, Arnold had ceded day-to-day operations of Fisher Brothers to his sons and his nephew, Winston.
Like other members of the Fisher family before him, he took a keen interest in supporting patriotic causes, having joined the Army in 1953 and served 18 months in the Korean War. His philanthropy particularly focused on veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars who returned home with traumatic brain injuries.
“I’m very emotional when it comes to this country,” he said in a 2019 interview. “I am a super patriot.”
“We can’t just take from this country — we have to give back.”
He led the construction of the National Intrepid Center of Excellence in Bethesda, Maryland, where medical research focuses on post-traumatic stress and brain injury, and the Center for the Intrepid in San Antonio, Texas, where military men and women receive treatment for amputations and severe burns.
He also served as chairman of the Intrepid Museum Foundation, which manages the decommissioned aircraft carrier USS Intrepid as a military museum docked along Manhattan’s West Side, and helped lead the Fisher House Foundation, which builds temporary homes for the families of military members and veterans undergoing hospital treatment.
Arnold received an honorary knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II in 2006 for improving the welfare of British military personnel. Two years later, he was awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal by former President George W. Bush and the Patriot Award from the Congressional Medal of Honor Society.
A longtime resident of Pine Plains, New York, Arnold bought a home in Palm Beach, Florida, where his father died, in 2019.
He is survived by his wife, Sally Ogden, his children, Kenneth, Steven and Karen, 12 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
