Environmental Advocate Ruth Fisher Dies

SOUTH DENNIS – “Revere the darkness that you might see the star.” That was one of Ruth Fisher’s favorite quotes.
An environmentalist before the word was common, Ruth Elnora (Hamilton) Fisher of this community, who raised Cape May County’s collective awareness of its trees, water and delicate eco-systems, died at her son’s home March 31. She was 86.
Fisher never shied from the podium at freeholder meetings. She admonished the governing body or chided its missteps. Her concerns ranged from red foxes to air quality and, before it was well accepted as an alternative energy source, solar power.
Born and raised in Ithaca, N.Y., she had infantile paralysis (polio) and received treatment in Warm Springs, Ga. A graduate of Ithaca High School in 1947 and Cornell University in 1951, she worked briefly as a cartographer for U.S. Geological Survey in Washington, and studied art at the University of Iowa in Iowa City where she met her husband Charles K. Fisher.
They were married in 1952 and had three sons, Charles W. Fisher, Benjamin H. Fisher, and John O.
The couple lived in Germany, Libya, England and Louisiana before becoming residents of this community, according to her obituary.
In the late 1960s as wetlands chairman of the Izaak Walton League she advocated protection of undeveloped shorelines and wetlands including opposition to the dredging of the back bays of Ocean City for beach replenishment.
Her actions linked with other environmentalists to work for the passage of New Jersey’s Wetlands Protection Act of 1970.
In 1973 she formed the Sun People and organized the People’s Energy Conference 73, the first energy conference ever held by a non-governmental group in Cape May.
That event had renowned speakers that included architect-inventor Buckminster Fuller, environmental advocate David Brower, and Sen. Mike Gravel from Alaska, who unsuccessfully sought the Democratic vice presidential nomination in 1972.
As the county anticipates celebrating its Earth Day this Saturday, April 16 at County Park, it should be remembered that Fisher was an organizer of the county’s first Earth Day celebration in 1976, in Cape May City.
She founded and was president of Citizens for the Protection of the Environment (CAPE) and worked to eliminate application of herbicides and pesticides, including aerial mosquito spraying programs and the use of glyphosate for the elimination of phragmites grass. Along with her friend Oliver Barry, they founded the Sun People.
Fisher raised her voice against nuclear power plants and mass burn incineration, once advocated to rid the county of its trash.
Endeared to things winged, either birds, moths or butterflies, she worked for the preservation of piping plover shore nesting habitat and preservation of marine creatures including eels, horseshoe crabs and Diamondback terrapins.
With her grandchildren she was a regular contributor to the annual shell show at the Wetlands Institute. She also worked as a nature guide at Cape May State Park.
In later years she voiced opposition to continuing destruction of legacy trees in the county, as developments chewed into once-isolated forests. Because of that endearment, she knew virtually each of those trees regardless of location whether tulip or bald cypress, all were special to her, and she wanted them saved.
She worked to preserve unique historical items, including saving the last melonseed boat unique to the New Jersey coastal bay areas. 
In 1996 she was awarded the Alice Stokes Paul Award for her contributions to Cape May County.
When she mailed letters to this newspaper, it was her habit to always use ornate postage stamps, hand-wrote letters and scrawled the address on envelopes.
Ever a champion of the underdog, Fisher befriended Kent Negersmith, father of Susan Negersmith, slain in Wildwood on a Memorial Day Weekend 1990. Unconvinced of the medical examiner’s initial conclusion that cause of death was accidental and alcohol related, she helped the family work with state authorities who, in 1993, declared the death a homicide. The case remains unsolved.
Fisher confided to this reporter that she feared no one else would take up the battles she waged, since so many were intimidated by public officials and feared taking stalwart stands for ideals in which they believed. To date, her prediction has been true.
Surviving Fisher are sons Charles and John and their respective spouses, Carolyn (Bartay) Fisher and Lisa (McVey) Fisher and six grandchildren, Christy A. Fisher of Annapolis, Md., Charles E. Fisher of Austin, Texas, Camille F. Fisher of Madison, Wis, and Connie M. Fisher, Jon P. Fisher, and Mac A. Fisher all of Woodbine, and two great grandchildren, Gibson J. Goldsmith and Dasher J. Goldsmith of Annapolis, Md.
Funeral services were April 9 under direction of Radzieta Funeral Home. Her final resting place in Union Cemetery is less than a mile from her home on Route 47.