W. Donald Fisher, longtime Sarasota resident, passed away on January 9, 2024. He was born in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, to parents Margaret E. Fisher and John I. Fisher on September 27, 1928. Don lived 95 years with gratitude for a full and adventuresome life. Don's life was filled with love for and dedication to his wife and family, his entrepreneurial business interests, and the many people in his life who personally and professionally benefited from his counsel and shared wisdom.

Don's deep faith provided the core values that determined his well calculated, measured decisions and wise counsel. Throughout his professional life and in his retirement, along with his life partner and wife, Marilyn Kretz Fisher, Don provided magnanimous, anonymous deeds and funding for his faith-based philanthropy. Don and Marilyn enjoyed 73 years together since their marriage on September 9, 1950.

Don graduated from Selinsgrove High School, Class of 1946. He enlisted in the United States Navy as a radio operator on a mine sweeper. He later graduated from the Naval Academy Preparatory School and went on to graduate from Susquehanna University with a B.S. in Business Administration. He received his MBA from New York University Graduate School of Business Administration specializing in accounting and corporate finance.

In 1953 he obtained his Certified Public Accountant (CPA) license and started his public accounting career in New York City at Loomis, Suffern & Fernald, then practiced at Hurdman & Cranstoun, and Price Waterhouse & Company. He then joined his client, Vicks Chemical, as Controller.

Don was offered a chance to return to Selinsgrove by a group of New York businessmen who owned Wood-Mode Industries asking him to run finance. He agreed to do so with the caveat that he would build his own CPA firm at night. He worked in a financial advisory capacity for Wood-Mode for over 40 years. His CPA firm grew into five branch offices and took on additional partners to his firm, changing the name from W.D. Fisher & Co. to Fisher, Clark, and Lauer. Don served as the managing director and consulted clients on matters of business formation, financing, mergers and acquisitions, specialized tax matters, and business succession and tax-related estate planning. The firm performed audit and consulting work as well. The firm expanded to Fisher, Clark, Lauer, Shaeffer and Dildine. With this transition, Don was advisory consultant to key clients in order to allocate more time to his entrepreneurial endeavors, community board service, and philanthropy.

Don's entrepreneurial skills were exemplary. He backed and started numerous businesses in Central Pennsylvania. His housing and real estate endeavors included Little Colt Enterprises, a mobile home manufacturer, Forest Homes Systems, Inc., and Poloron Homes, both prefabricated manufactured homes; Brookside Homes, paneled manufactured homes; the stick built housing developments of Pinebrook Homes of Danville, Pennsylvania, and Monroe Manor, Inc., of Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania; and a water company which later sold to American Water Works (AWK). Fisher Realty Company acquired and leased office properties.

As Wood-Mode Industries grew, Don knew the business needed tractor-trailers and drivers for nationwide transport. In response, he built the sales and service trucking company, TRUCK WORLD, which leased tractor-trailers to Wood-Mode and refrigerated trucks to Dutch Pantry Restaurants. He then established another leasing company for many other clients for trucks and equipment, General Equipment Rentals, Inc. (GERI).

Don turned his hobbies into yet another business opportunity by building and developing Brookside Racquet Club, buying land for a 9-hole golf course that was free to use for the youth in the community. With Marilyn and friends, they co-owned Carefree Travel Agency. Don was co-owner of CPO2, a medical equipment sales and leasing company. Don participated as a lead venture capital investor in several other Central Pennsylvania businesses, from a business journal newspaper to a coal barge on the Susquehanna River.

Don served as a member of the Board of Directors of Tri-County Trust Company and Susquehanna University, both in Selinsgrove, PA. He also served as Board Member of The Evangelical Community Hospital in Lewisburg, PA, The Walnut Acres Foundation, Middleburg, PA, and The Girls Scouts of the United States. Don was a Mason of Lafayette 194 and a Shriner as member of the Irem Shrine, Dallas, PA.

Don and Marilyn's philanthropic efforts locally supported the church, youth programs in various churches, college scholarships at Susquehanna University, and missionaries around the globe. Don was even known to have the local Amish build prefab churches and steeples and to send them in shipping containers to rebuild churches in Liberia and Nigeria.

The Fishers retired to Sarasota in 1994, becoming snowbirds for many years to spend time with their New England- and Florida-based daughters and their families. They enjoyed their summers in Buzzard's Bay in South Dartmouth, MA.

Don is survived by his loving wife, Marilyn, and their three daughters: Donna Lyn Tamaroff (Michael Shingleton); Karen Shaeffer (Ted Shaeffer); and Cynthia Fisher (Jim Koch). He was the grandfather of nine grandchildren and two step-grandchildren: Daniel Fisher Tamaroff, Esq.; David Fisher Tamaroff, Esq,; Mara Tamaroff Bushari; Christopher Shaeffer; Megan Shaeffer, Matthew Shaeffer, and Ryan Shaeffer; Elizabeth Fisher Koch and Emily Fisher Koch; and Megan Koch Popp and Charlie Koch. He is also survived by fourteen great-grandchildren and five stepgreat-grandchildren. He was predeceased by his parents and his brother, Marlin E. Fisher.

The Fisher family extends heartfelt gratitude and appreciation to Don's caregivers Ana Aracena-Gomez, Amber Coney, and Brenda Tuden, who so lovingly provided care and support.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Don's memory to Church of the Palms, 3224 Bee Ridge Road, Sarasota, FL, 34232, or to The W. Donald and Marilyn Kretz Fisher Scholarship Fund, Susquehanna University, 514 University Avenue, Selinsgrove, PA, 17870-1164.

Celebration of Don's life will be on Saturday, January 27, 2024, at 1 p.m. at Church of the Palms, 3224 Bee Ridge Rd, Sarasota, FL. The service will be livestreamed at www.churchofthepalms.org.