Ken Fisher, Citizen

 

Recognizing outstanding service and support to veterans by a private citizen 

 

Ken Fisher is Chairman and CEO of the Fisher House Foundation, a not-for-profit organization that constructs “comfort homes” for families of hospitalized military personnel and veterans. Founded in 1990 by his late uncle Zachary Fisher, the program has built 64 houses in the United States and overseas. Fisher Houses serve more than 22,000 families each year and have saved more than $200 million in lodging and travel costs since inception.

 

Under Fisher’s leadership, the Foundation has grown from 30 homes to a network of 64 homes, with several more currently under construction. They include a Fisher House at Dover Air Force Base, for families who travel to Delaware for their loved ones’ Dignified Transfer of Remains ceremonies, and a Fisher House at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, UK, a notable internationalizing of the Foundation’s work.

 

Fisher has also started The Hero Miles, Hotels for Heroes, and several scholarship programs to provide additional services and savings to military families. In 2013, the Fisher House Foundation stepped in to pay death benefits that the Department of Defense could not disburse due to the government shutdown, providing $750K in grants to the 30 families that were impacted.