Obituary of Dr. Edward J Fischer

Edward J Fischer SJ passed peacefully Wednesday evening May 17 just 16 days after celebrating his 95th Birthday.  Eddie was born in West Orange, NJ on May 1, 1928 the second child to Edward and Florence Fischer.  Ed's birth was followed by 6 more Fischer children.  He was predeceased by his sisters Anne and Florence and his brothers William, John, Michael, Joseph and Robert.  

Eddie joyfully attended St Peters Prep in Jersey City and St Peters would come to be  a very meaningful place for him over the course of his life.  At 17 Ed began his life with the Jesuits attending Seminary at St Andrew's on Hudson ( where he recounted many times his chores and the rigors of that life...his chore being leading the firewood brigade for the stoves at the seminary).  Later he would study and make many lifelong friends and acquaintances at seminaries and Jesuit houses in Loyola Maryland, Louvain, Belgium, and Paris where he studied and mastered French among other things. These experiences led to a lifelong travel bug and Eddie truly saw the world. While these were personally rewarding experiences much later in life he recounted the loss of family relationships resulting from the solitary and often distant life he led.  

Ed's first posting was as a teacher at Canisius high school in Buffalo and each story recounted from that period was shared with a broad smile.     Eventually Ed settled into a number of teaching and student counseling roles at St Peters and lived the remainder of his life in close proximity to the college.  And outgrowth of the counseling experiences, raw intellectual curiosity and a desire to help people  led Ed to get a Doctorate in Physchology which he persued with his usual vigor and intellectual curiosity.  The PHD was granted by NYU and Ed got to train and work with many preeminent psychologists in NYC.  He mastered hypnosis which he occasionally tried on nieces and nephews however the inherited Fischer stubbornness normally prevented a successful outcome!  

A love of Eddies  was the theater in NYC his apartment was simply filled with playbills and ticket stubs..who knew? 

Although Eddie outlived his siblings he is survived by a happy and vibrant group of close to 20 loving nieces and nephews who fondly recall our times with Father Ed.  Ed will be interred at Immaculate Conception Cemetary in Montclair and in the Fischer family plot along side a brother and sister and his parents with another brother not far away...somewhere the lost time with family Ed was remorseful about is quickly being made up for.