Dr. Fisher believes strongly in the importance of supporting charitable causes. He was the Chairman of fundraising for Help Us Give Smiles from 2006 until 2011. In this capacity, Dr. Fisher’s efforts helped fund regular missions to developing nations where doctors provided life-saving surgical corrections to facially deformed children. Absent this care, these children would be regarded as social pariahs, often cast out of their own families, left to face doubtful and isolated futures. In recognition for his work, Dr. Fisher was bestowed with in 2009 the Outstanding Leadership Award by HUGS in grateful appreciation for his “Visionary guidance and tireless dedication to the HUGS Foundation.”
Dr. Fisher, an animal lover, has provided substantial monetary support to the Humane Society at Lollypop Farms since 2004. His most recent contribution was for upgraded communications systems for the Law Enforcement Fleet at Lollypop Farm. These communication upgrades allow officers to access the Internet and Police data bases to more quickly apprehend suspects who have abused or who are suspected of abusing animals. This gift builds on Dr. Fisher's previous donations of computers in all the fleet vehicles. In 2011 and 2012, he offered a $10,000 matching gift for a one-day fundraiser called ROC The Day (see ROC the Day information below). He served as the Honorary Chair of the 2012 Fundraising Gala titled, "The Great Catsby" at Sonnenberg Gardens for Lollypop Farms and has gone on to sponsor three galas since.
Dr. Fisher believes in the value of education as a tool for bettering our society and has made a 10-year commitment to The Rochester Broadway Theatre League as a Partner in Education at the Chairman Level of giving (ended in 2015). His financial support of Duke University (his Alma Mater, class of 1975) has qualified him as a member of the President’s Council while he has been a Bronze Laureate with the Phi Beta Kappa Society for 12+ consecutive years to the present time (2006-present). Dr. Fisher has been inducted into the Duke University Heritage Society in acknowledgment of his endowment of a $1,000,000 gift that will create the perpetual Jerid M. Fisher Scholarship Fund for a qualifying student studying the neuro sciences.
Dr. Fisher has also funded for the past 16+ years the Seymour Fisher Dissertation Award for the doctoral dissertation, which is chosen annually by the editors of The Journal of Body Image, that best honors the spirit of his late father’s, Dr. Seymour Fisher’s, work in the field of body image and personality. Read more about Dr. Seymour Fisher in his son's tribute to his life.