Stephen L. Fisher

Dr. Stephen L. Fisher, The founder of the Appalachian Center for Community Service at Emory & Henry University and the recipient of one of the highest honors given to a U.S. professor died Saturday, Oct. 4 2025 at English Meadows near Abingdon, Va.

Dr. Stephen Lynn Fisher, 81, retired in 2006 from Emory & Henry after a 35-year teaching career that included service as chair of the university’s Department of Political Science and respect as one of the university’s most celebrated scholars and servant leaders. In 1996 he founded the Appalachian Center for Community Service, one of the first programs in higher education dedicated to engaging students in interdisciplinary service learning. His emphasis on activist servant leadership played a key role in a decision by The Carnegie Foundation and the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education to name him the 1999 U.S. Professor of the Year among baccalaureate college and university teachers. The honor was a capstone of a career marked by numerous other awards for teaching and community impact, including the Outstanding Faculty Award from the State Council for Higher Education in Virginia, the William and Martha DeFriece Award presented by Emory & Henry, the Appalachian Hero Award given by the Appalachian Community Fund, the Peace and Justice Award presented by the Appalachian Peace Education Center (APEC), and the Cratis Williams/James Brown Service Award and the Award for Excellence in Teaching presented by the Appalachian Studies Association (ASA). He co-founded “The Plow,” an alternative regional newspaper for southwest Virginia that published in the late 1970s and for which he served as a columnist. He also served as editor of “Fighting Back in Appalachia: Traditions of Resistance and Change” and co-editor of “Transforming Places: Lessons from Appalachia.” A leader in the development of the discipline of Appalachian Studies, Fisher was named president of the ASA and served as program chair of the first Appalachian Studies Conference in 1978. He wrote, published and spoke extensively on a variety of Appalachian issues and about teaching and community-based education. Working to build links between the academic community and social justice activists of the region, he was active in numerous Appalachian resistance efforts, including the Appalachian Land Ownership Study, Appalachian Alliance and the Pittston strike. He served on the boards of numerous peace and justice organizations, including the Appalachian Community Fund, Just Connections and the Highlander Research & Education Center. He also was an active member of APEC, Washington County Independent Neighbors (WIN) and Virginia Organizing. From 2000 to 2012, he served on the Planning Commission for Washington County, Va. A music lover, he hosted a weekly music radio show, “Rise Up Singing,” on the E&H radio station, WEHC 90.7 FM, from 2007 to 2023. He also enjoyed college basketball, flower gardening, the view of mountains from his porch deck, annual trips to Santa Rosa Beach, and the Cayamo Music Cruise. Committed to building relationships and community, Fisher helped to form a men’s group in 1980. In an attempt to be more intentional about the spiritual nature of community, Fisher co-founded a house church in 2011. Now in its 15th year, the group of approximately 12 people meets bi-weekly in members’ homes and has become a place of honesty, trust, and care as the group has considered the mysteries of life from a variety of spiritual perspectives. Fisher received his undergraduate degree at Wake Forest University and his master’s and doctoral degrees in political science at Tulane University. 

He was born Aug. 22, 1944 in Charleston, W.Va. to John Lynn and Mary Margaret Fisher. He is survived by his wife, Nancy Garretson, and a niece, Jenni Sutherland. He was preceded in death by his sister, Peggy Ong.

A Celebration of Steve’s Life & Community will be held on Saturday, January 17, 2026, at E&H McGlothlin Center for the Arts. The formal event will commence at 3 PM followed by a time of visiting, storytelling and community-making.

Donations in honor of Dr. Fisher may be made to The Stephen L. Fisher Undergraduate Research Fellowship, which provides funding for undergraduate research projects in Appalachian studies and the Social Sciences, at the E&H Office of Philanthropy, P.O. Box 950, Emory, VA 24327, https://www.emoryhenry.edu/giving/give-online/; Virginia Organizing at 703 Concord Ave., Charlottesville, VA, 22903, or the Appalachian Peace Education Center at P.O. Box 1831, Abingdon, VA 24212.

To share memories of Dr. Stephen L. Fisher, please visit www.seaverbrown.com. Care for Dr. Fisher has been entrusted to Fraziers’ Seaver-Brown Funeral Service & Crematory, 237 East Main Street, Marion VA 24354.