John Joseph Fisher (born June 1, 1961) is an American businessman. He is the owner of Major League Baseball's

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The te ...

and has stakes in Major League Soccer's

San Jose Earthquakes The San Jose Earthquakes are an American professional soccer team based in San Jose, California. The Earthquakes compete as a member club of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). Originally as the San Jose Clash, the franchise ...

and Scotland's

Celtic F.C. The Celtic Football Club, commonly known as Celtic (), is a Scottish professional football club based in Glasgow, which plays in the Scottish Premiership. The club was founded in 1887 with the purpose of alleviating poverty in the immigran ...

He is the son of Gap Inc. founders

Donald Fisher Donald George Fisher (September 3, 1928 – September 27, 2009) was an American billionaire businessman and philanthropist. He co-founded The Gap Inc. clothing stores with his wife Doris F. Fisher. Early life and education Fisher was born i ...

and Doris F. Fisher.

Early life and education

Fisher is the son of Doris Feigenbaum Fisher and Don Fisher, the co-founders of

Gap, Inc. The Gap, Inc., commonly known as Gap Inc. or Gap (stylized as GAP), is an American worldwide clothing and accessories retailer. Gap was founded in 1969 by Donald Fisher and Doris F. Fisher and is headquartered in San Francisco, California. The co ...

Fisher attended

Phillips Exeter Academy (not for oneself) la, Finis Origine Pendet (The End Depends Upon the Beginning) gr, Χάριτι Θεοῦ (By the Grace of God) , location = 20 Main Street , city = Exeter, New Hampshire , zipcode ...

San Francisco Gate: "A's NEW ERA / JOHN FISHER / Son of Gap founder is the money behind the deal" by Todd Wallack
March 31, 2005 and

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

, where he received a bachelor's degree in 1983. After college, Fisher worked in the mailroom at the

Republican National Committee The Republican National Committee (RNC) is a U.S. political committee that assists the Republican Party of the United States. It is responsible for developing and promoting the Republican brand and political platform, as well as assisting in fu ...

and worked as a fundraiser for then-President

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

and Vice President

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...

. He then attended graduate school at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

School of Business, where he earned a master's degree in Business Administration. Fisher, who is

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

, has two brothers:

Robert J. Fisher Robert Joseph "Bob" Fisher (born August 26, 1954) is an American businessman. He is currently chairman of The Gap, Inc. and has been a director since 1990; he was previously chairman of the board (2004-2007) and interim chief executive officer. T ...

and

William S. Fisher William Sydney Fisher (born 1958) is an American investor, Hedge fund, hedge fund manager, and philanthropist. He has been a director of Gap Inc. since 2009, and the founder and chief executive officer of Manzanita Capital Limited.

Career

After graduate school, he took a job for a real estate company that did business with his parents' company, the Gap. The business was not successful and he became president of Pisces Inc., the Fisher family's investment management company. He established a relationship with Lewis Wolff to jointly purchase several Fairmont hotels in San Francisco, which led to his investment in the

. He also has stakes in Major League Soccer's

and Scotland's

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

football club. Fisher has been the majority owner of the Athletics since he and Wolff closed on their joint purchase of the team in 2005 and is now also the managing general partner. In November 2016, Wolff sold his 10% share in the Athletics to Fisher giving Fisher full ownership of the team. In April 2022, ''Forbes'' estimated his net worth to be $2.4

billion Billion is a word for a large number, and it has two distinct definitions: *1,000,000,000, i.e. one thousand million, or (ten to the ninth power), as defined on the short scale. This is its only current meaning in English. * 1,000,000,000,000, i.e ...

.Forbes: The World's Billionaires - John Fisher
April 2022

Philanthropy

Fisher chairs the board of the Knowledge Is Power Program (

KIPP Foundation The Knowledge is Power Program, commonly known as KIPP, is a network of free open-enrollment college-preparatory schools in low income communities throughout the United States. KIPP is America's largest network of charter schools. The head of ...

), dedicated to training teachers for the KIPP public charter school network., and co-chair of the Charter School Growth Fund.

Political views

In 2019, it was revealed that Fisher, with his mother Doris F. Fisher and brothers

and

, had donated nearly $9 million to a dark money group that opposed

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

in the

2012 election This national electoral calendar for 2012 lists the national/ federal elections held in 2012 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *3–4 January: ...

Personal life

He is married to Laura Meier Fisher.Stanford University Bulletin: "Laura Fisher"
retrieved July 29, 2013 The couple lives in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fisher, John J. 1961 births Living people American billionaires American retail chief executives Businesspeople from the San Francisco Bay Area California Republicans Jewish American philanthropists Major League Baseball executives Oakland Athletics owners Princeton University alumni San Jose Earthquakes executives Stanford Graduate School of Business alumni Fisher family Gap Inc. people 21st-century American Jews