Kenneth Robinson Fisher (1906-1999) was the grandson of O.W. (Oliver Williams) Fisher, founder and owner of Seattle’s Fisher Flour Mill. Fisher built his mill, the largest in the west, on the newly constructed Harbor Island in Elliott Bay at the mouth of the Duwamish waterway, one of the first industrial businesses to open on the island. Fisher ran the business with his sons, including O.W. (Orin Wallace) Fisher, O.D. (Oliver David) Fisher, and Kenneth Fisher’s father, W.P. (William Peter) Fisher.

Kenneth Fisher was born in Seattle, and attended University of Washington, and Harvard University, where he received his MBA. He started with Fisher Mills in 1930, working his way up to director in 1949, vice president from 1960-1965, president from 1965-1973, and chairman of the board from 1973.

Aside from his work at Fisher Mills, Kenneth Fisher was also on the Board of directors for Western International Hotels and Safeco Corporation, a university trustee at University Puget Sound, and a member emeritus of the advisory committee at the Graduate School of Business Administration, University Washington. Fisher was also active in a number of civic organizations: as a trustee of Seattle Art Museum, a member of the regional citizen's advisory committee for the Washington Department of Social and Health Services, a member of the Washington state advisory committee for the United States Commission on Civil Rights, financial chairman of Washington State Citizens for Abortion Reform, and on the board of directors of Planned Parenthood Center of Seattle. In 1987, Fisher received the Institute of Human Relations National Award of the American Jewish Committee.

Interview conducted by Donald A. Schmechel on April 23, 1985. This interview is part of the Donald Schmechel Oral History Collection. Don Schmechel, who was a member of the Seattle Public Library Foundation board, began this project with Seattle Public Library in 1984, with the Museum of History & Industry (MOHAI) brought on board as a partner in early 1985. Schmechel himself worked to raise the funding for the project, and volunteered his time to manage the project, and to conduct interviews along with a crew of volunteers. Originally titled the Videotaping Historic Figures (VHF) Program, the project interviewed 91 people, and MOHAI holds the interviews for 32 of these individuals.