Harris G. Fister, 92, doctor for schools

Harris G. Fister, 92, a physician for the Maple Shade School District from the 1950s into the 1990s, died Wednesday, Aug. 5, at the Wiley Christian Retirement Community in Marlton, where he had lived since 1999.

Born in Philadelphia, Dr. Fister graduated from Moorestown High School in 1941 and earned a premed degree at Gettysburg College in 1944, on an accelerated wartime schedule, before enlisting in the Army.

"They immediately put him into med school," daughter Nancy Daniels said, so that he graduated from Jefferson Medical College in 1947.

After completing his internship at what is now Cooper University Hospital in Camden, he fulfilled his military obligation from 1948 to 1950 as a physician at a hospital in Washington.

Dr. Fister opened a Maple Shade office as a primary care physician in 1950, but soon was recalled to military duty during the Korean conflict and assigned to Fort Dix.

"He worked at Fort Dix during the day, and then at night had office hours" for civilians in Maple Shade, his hometown for 75 years, his daughter said.

"He was just driving up there every day," in the early 1950s, from Maple Shade, where he also saw patients on Saturday mornings and "made house calls all the time."

For a time, Dr. Fister taught courses in clinical history and physical examination at Cooper.

After selling his medical practice in 1987, she said, he continued as a school district physician for a few years.

Lindsay Mitchell began his career as a pharmacist in 1955 in Maple Shade and got to know Dr. Fister then. Though the men never worked together, Mitchell said, the families became close in the 1970s, when the Fisters joined the Mitchells' church, First United Methodist in Moorestown.

"They were part of our Bible studies on Friday nights," Mitchell said, and soon developed a decades-long friendship that took them together to Cape May and Longwood Gardens.

"He was an absolute gentleman," Mitchell recalled.

Dr. Fister was a board member of the former Burlington County Trust Co.

In the 1950s, Dr. Fister owned a single-engine Piper Tri-Pacer, which he flew from the airfield that is now the site of Voorhees Town Center, his daughter said.

"They would fly to Pennsylvania, to go out to dinner," she said of Dr. Fister and his wife, Jane, "just for fun."

He had begun in 1990 to write poems in the three-line haiku tradition and in 2004 self-published a collection of his work.

Besides his daughter, Dr. Fister is survived by son Jeffrey, son Perry Lee, three grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren. His wife died in 2003.

A memorial service was set for 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 12, at First United Methodist Church, 446 E. Camden Ave., Moorestown.

Donations may be sent to the Wiley Mission, 99 E. Main St., Marlton, N.J. 08053, or www.wileymission.org.

Condolences may be offered to the family at www.lewisfuneralhomemoorestown.com.

610-313-8134@WNaedele