TJ Fisher is a Southern

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

, documentarist and

social critic Social criticism is a form of academic or journalistic criticism focusing on social issues in contemporary society, in particular with respect to perceived injustices and power relations in general. Social criticism of the Enlightenment The orig ...

who lives in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is bord ...

and Palm Beach,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

Career

Prior to being an author, Fisher had taken jobs as a journalist, gossip columnist, documentary filmmaker and ad agency/PR executive.

Post-Katrina

After

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...

, in late 2005 Fisher authored the narrative work ''Orléans Embrace'', for which she received praise for her prose. ''Orléans Embrace'' is a three-part compendium: the first and third parts are by Fisher, and the middle part is the companion book, ''The Secret Gardens of the Vieux Carré'' by Roy F. Guste, Jr. with photography by Louis Sahuc. She was not paid for her work on the (post-Katrina) French Quarter fundraising book, a crusade for New Orleans. Fisher received awards for Best New Voice Nonfiction and The Bill Fisher Award for Best First Book Nonfiction for ''Orléans Embrace with The Secret Gardens of the Vieux Carré'' at the PMA Publishers Marketing Association Benjamin Franklin Awards in 2007. At the Independent Publisher Book Awards it received a gold medal in the Home & Garden category. The title also won the Best Books 2007 Awards in the Home: General category.

Recent works

Fisher's works center on

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

and the historic French Quarter ( Vieux Carré). She was nominated for a

Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance Pat Conroy Southern Book Prize (formerly the SEBA Book Award and SIBA Book Award) is an literary award given by the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA). It was first awarded in 1999.Summer, Bob (1999). "SEBA presents first book award ...

SIBA Book Award Pat Conroy Southern Book Prize (formerly the SEBA Book Award and SIBA Book Award) is an literary award given by the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA). It was first awarded in 1999.Summer, Bob (1999). "SEBA presents first book award ...

for her poetry in ''Hearsay from Heaven and Hades: New Orleans Secrets of Sinners and Saints''. The title won the Best Books 2009 Awards Poetry: General category. Beyond personal experience, her first post-Katrina work "imprinted a style reminiscent of

Lafcadio Hearn , born Patrick Lafcadio Hearn (; el, Πατρίκιος Λευκάδιος Χέρν, Patríkios Lefkádios Chérn, Irish: Pádraig Lafcadio O'hEarain), was an Irish- Greek- Japanese writer, translator, and teacher who introduced the culture a ...

". Gris Gris Rouge, a paper in Louisiana, wrote that FIsher's narratives celebrate and capture the elusive quality of

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Real estate and controversy

In 2007 ex- NFL Raven

football player A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

Michael McCrary Michael Curtis McCrary (born July 7, 1970) is a former American football player who was defensive end for the Seattle Seahawks and the Baltimore Ravens for ten seasons in the National Football League (NFL) between 1993 and 2002. McCrary was a two- ...

added Fisher to a

lawsuit - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil act ...

aimed at her husband and others for $60 million. The Circuit Court for

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was ...

City civil

litigation - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil act ...

concerned a hurricane-derailed New Orleans real estate venture at the New Orleans

landmark A landmark is a recognizable natural or artificial feature used for navigation, a feature that stands out from its near environment and is often visible from long distances. In modern use, the term can also be applied to smaller structures or f ...

(Crescent City Towers)

Plaza Tower Plaza Tower (for a time dubbed Crescent City Towers and Crescent City Residences in a failed proposed redevelopment scheme) is a 45-story, skyscraper in New Orleans, Louisiana, designed in the modern style by Leonard R Spangenberg, Jr. & A ...

site. McCrary's case targeted a tangle of Louisiana limited liability companies. The soured real estate and development investment deal netted McCrary and a web of partnerships millions of dollars in post-Katrina profits within a few months. McCrary reaped $2,384,639 in profits and the return of his $3,550,000

capital investment Investment is the dedication of money to purchase of an asset to attain an increase in value over a period of time. Investment requires a sacrifice of some present asset, such as time, money, or effort. In finance, the purpose of investing i ...

. In June 2008, a Baltimore

courtroom A courtroom is the enclosed space in which courts of law are held in front of a judge. A number of courtrooms, which may also be known as "courts", may be housed in a courthouse. In recent years, courtrooms have been equipped with audiovisual ...

rendered a $33.3-million-dollar default judgment against Fisher and others, in favor of McCrary. Precedent to the award, all defendants and their attorneys were precluded from speaking or participating in the damages hearing inquisition. Legal analysts cited U.S. Constitution and

Due Process Due process of law is application by state of all legal rules and principles pertaining to the case so all legal rights that are owed to the person are respected. Due process balances the power of law of the land and protects the individual per ...

violations. Fisher was unable to post a $33.3-million-dollar

supersedeas bond A supersedeas bond (often shortened to ''supersedeas''), also known as a defendant's appeal bond, is a type of surety bond that a court requires from an appellant who wants to delay payment of a judgment until an appeal is over. This is a feature ...

to stay execution of McCrary's default judgment against her during the pendency of the appeal. Nearly a year after the trial court default, the

Maryland Court of Special Appeals Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to i ...

granted a stay against the judgment without a bond being posted. In June 2009 the Maryland intermediate appellate court tossed the $33.3-million-dollar default judgment against Fisher and others. In earlier Pre-Katrina litigation on

eminent domain Eminent domain (United States, Philippines), land acquisition (India, Malaysia, Singapore), compulsory purchase/acquisition (Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, United Kingdom), resumption (Hong Kong, Uganda), resumption/compulsory acquisition (Austr ...

site

expropriation Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to p ...

by the

New Orleans Morial Convention Center The Ernest N. Morial Convention Center is located in Downtown New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. The lower end of building one is located upriver from Canal Street on the banks of the Mississippi River. It is named after former Mayor of N ...

, Fisher retained Johnnie Cochran to represent herself and a partner. On a separate but nearby parcel of property, Fisher turned over her winning-bid auction contract on a multimillion-dollar

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest Drainage system (geomorphology), drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson B ...

riverfront ex-casino property to

Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into a comprehensive pub ...

, at no profit, for future development of the Riversphere project. The former River Gate Casino tract was previously associated with hotelier/developer/dreamer Christopher Hemmeter and Louisiana ex-governor

Edwin Edwards Edwin Washington Edwards (August 7, 1927 – July 12, 2021) was an American politician and member of the Democratic Party who served as the U.S. representative for from 1965 to 1972 and as the 50th governor of Louisiana for four terms (1972� ...

. In the late 90s, Fisher was one of the original owner/developers of the Ritz-Carlton

Coconut Grove Coconut Grove, also known colloquially as The Grove, is the oldest continuously inhabited neighborhood of Miami in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The neighborhood is roughly bound by North Prospect Drive to the south, LeJeune Road to the west, S ...

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

, Florida; she was also associated with the

South Beach South Beach, also nicknamed colloquially as SoBe, is a neighborhood in Miami Beach, Florida. It is located east of Miami between Biscayne Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. The area encompasses Miami Beach south of Dade Boulevard. This area was the ...

and Baltimore Ritz projects. On several

joint-venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...

projects Fisher aligned with Philip Pilevsky of Philips International, the on-off financier/partner of hotelier Ian Schrager. The Schrager/Philip pairing began with

Studio 54 Studio 54 is a Broadway theater and a former disco nightclub at 254 West 54th Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Operated by the Roundabout Theatre Company, Studio 54 has 1,006 seats on two levels. The theater w ...

. Later, in conjunction with designer Philip Stark, they founded original boutique hotels, including

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

's Paramount Hotel and

Royalton Hotel The Royalton Hotel is a hotel at 44 West 44th Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States. The hotel, opened in 1898, was designed by architecture firm Rossiter & Wright and developed by civil engineer Edward G. Bailey. The 13-s ...

, Miami's Delano Hotel and Shore Club, and LA's Mondrian Hotel.

Personal life

She helped found the Rufus Fisher Dog Angel program at

Kansas State University Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public inst ...

College of Veterinary Medicine, a program established in memory of her late yellow Labrador retriever. Fisher resides with one of the three original 1940s

Howdy Doody ''Howdy Doody'' is an American Children's television series, children's television program (with circus and Western (genre), Western frontier themes) that was created and produced by Victor F Campbell

marionettes, Photo Doody.Henderson, John. ''Palm Beach Daily News,'' "Howdy Comes to Town." January 11, 1997; Henderson, John. Palm Beach Daily News, "PBer Won't Sell Howdy Doody," August 20, 1997; Ron Kessler. The Season: The Secret Life of Palm Beach and America's Richest Society, 2004 age 31

References

External links

Official web site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fisher, Tj Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Writers from New Orleans People from Palm Beach, Florida American women writers 21st-century American women