Mary Fisher (activist)
Encyclopedia
Mary Fisher is an American political activist, artist
and author
. After contracting HIV
from her second husband, she has become an outspoken advocate for AIDS
prevention and education and for the compassionate treatment of people with HIV and AIDS. She is particularly noted for two speeches before the Republican Convention in Houston in 1992, and in San Diego in 1996.
She is founder of a non-profit organization to fund HIV/AIDS research and education, the Mary Fisher Clinical AIDS Research and Education (CARE) Fund. Since May 2006 she has been a global emissary for UNAIDS, the United Nations’ program to fight HIV/AIDS.
, the daughter of Marjorie Faith (née Switow) and George Allen Frehling. Her parents divorced when Fisher was four, and the following year her mother married multimillionaire Max Fisher
, who adopted Fisher.
Raised in Michigan, Fisher attended Kingswood School (today's Cranbrook Kingswood School) in Bloomfield Hills and attended college at the University of Michigan
for a year before taking a volunteer position at ABC Television
in Detroit, which she left when afforded an opportunity to join the staff of Gerald R. Ford, then President of the United States
, as the first female "advance man". In 1977, Fisher entered her first marriage, which soon dissolved. In 1984, she sought treatment at the Betty Ford Center
for alcoholism; while there, she realized she was artistically inclined. After rehab, she resettled to New York City
, and in 1987 she married fellow artist Brian Campbell. The couple relocated to Boca Raton and expanded their family. Fisher gave birth to son Max and after several miscarriages, adopted a second son, Zachary, with her husband. In 1990, Campbell requested a divorce and in 1991 informed Fisher that he was HIV positive. Fisher soon learned that she had contracted the disease from him, although their children tested negative.
published her story in February 1992, she was invited to speak at the 1992 Republican National Convention in Houston, Texas
. There, she urged the Republican Party to handle the AIDS crisis and the HIV positive with compassion. In 1995, New York Times credited Fisher — along with Elizabeth Glaser
, who spoke on her experience with AIDS at the 1992 Democratic National Convention
— with having "brought AIDS home to America." After that appearance, Fisher created a support group for families affected by AIDS and healthcare workers, the Family AIDS Network, and continued speaking as its representative, promoting education, prevention and acceptance of sufferers. Fisher spoke again at the 1996 Republican National Convention
in San Diego, California
. Fisher did not return for the 2000 Republican National Convention
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
; she was replaced by fellow AIDS activist (and "abstinence-only" proponent) Patricia Funderburk Ware.
In 1999, Fisher made news when she, like some other HIV positive people, decided to stop taking anti-HIV medications which she felt were hurting her quality of life.
But she and her doctors continued to try new drug combinations and, by 2001, were able to suppress the virus without unmanageable side effects. Finding medications that could prolong healthy life marked a turning point, Fisher said in a 2007 MORE Magazine interview: “For years it was waiting to die, and then it was turning everything around and trying to figure out how to live.”
Fisher expanded her AIDS activism from public speaking into writing, art and international advocacy. She founded the non-profit Mary Fisher CARE Fund, based at the Center for AIDS Research at the University of Alabama at Birmingham
, to support clinical AIDS research and promote public education about HIV/AIDS medicine and policy. She serves on the leadership council of the 'Global Coalition on Women and AIDS and with other HIV-positive women has toured the United States to raise awareness about the disease.
Fisher’s international work has focused on Africa and especially Zambia, where she has led fact-finding tours and has promoted income-generation projects to employ HIV-positive women. She has taught African women to create handmade jewelry which is then sold online and in U.S. galleries, with profits returned to the women artisans.
, President and Mrs. Gerald Ford
, Mrs. Henry Ford II, President and Mrs. Mwanawasa of Zambia
, and many others. Seven of her sculptures are displayed at the Geneva
, Switzerland
, headquarters of UNAIDS, as part of Art for AIDS, a collection created to recognize the role art has played in the response to AIDS. Fisher’s work also has been shown at the
Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum.
Mary Fisher is successfully represented year round by Goldenstein Gallery http://www.goldensteinart.com Uptown Sedona, AZ. A special show featuring Mary's work is held annually in November. The show is titled: CHI: Art as a Healing Medium. The opening reception is held the first Friday in November. Mary speaks in the gallery at least once a year. Visit the gallery website for details.
She is currently active with the Sedona Visual Artists Coalition
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
and author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
. After contracting HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
from her second husband, she has become an outspoken advocate for AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
prevention and education and for the compassionate treatment of people with HIV and AIDS. She is particularly noted for two speeches before the Republican Convention in Houston in 1992, and in San Diego in 1996.
She is founder of a non-profit organization to fund HIV/AIDS research and education, the Mary Fisher Clinical AIDS Research and Education (CARE) Fund. Since May 2006 she has been a global emissary for UNAIDS, the United Nations’ program to fight HIV/AIDS.
Early life
Fisher was born Lizabeth Davis Frehling on April 6, 1948, in Louisville, KentuckyLouisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
, the daughter of Marjorie Faith (née Switow) and George Allen Frehling. Her parents divorced when Fisher was four, and the following year her mother married multimillionaire Max Fisher
Max Fisher
Max Martin Fisher was a businessman, philanthropist, and benefactor/alumnus of the Fisher College of Business at The Ohio State University. He spent much of his life raising money for philanthropic and political endeavors and was a supporter of charitable and civic organizations...
, who adopted Fisher.
Raised in Michigan, Fisher attended Kingswood School (today's Cranbrook Kingswood School) in Bloomfield Hills and attended college at the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
for a year before taking a volunteer position at ABC Television
ABC Television
ABC Television is a service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation launched in 1956. As a public broadcasting broadcaster, the ABC provides four non-commercial channels within Australia, and a partially advertising-funded satellite channel overseas....
in Detroit, which she left when afforded an opportunity to join the staff of Gerald R. Ford, then President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
, as the first female "advance man". In 1977, Fisher entered her first marriage, which soon dissolved. In 1984, she sought treatment at the Betty Ford Center
Betty Ford Center
The Betty Ford Center , is a non-profit, separately licensed residential chemical dependency recovery hospital in Rancho Mirage, California, that offers inpatient, outpatient, and day treatment for alcohol and other drug addictions as well as prevention and education programs for family and children...
for alcoholism; while there, she realized she was artistically inclined. After rehab, she resettled to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, and in 1987 she married fellow artist Brian Campbell. The couple relocated to Boca Raton and expanded their family. Fisher gave birth to son Max and after several miscarriages, adopted a second son, Zachary, with her husband. In 1990, Campbell requested a divorce and in 1991 informed Fisher that he was HIV positive. Fisher soon learned that she had contracted the disease from him, although their children tested negative.
Activist
Fisher decided to be open about her illness, and after Detroit Free PressDetroit Free Press
The Detroit Free Press is the largest daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, USA. The Sunday edition is entitled the Sunday Free Press. It is sometimes informally referred to as the "Freep"...
published her story in February 1992, she was invited to speak at the 1992 Republican National Convention in Houston, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
. There, she urged the Republican Party to handle the AIDS crisis and the HIV positive with compassion. In 1995, New York Times credited Fisher — along with Elizabeth Glaser
Elizabeth Glaser
Elizabeth Glaser, born Elizabeth Meyer, , was a major American AIDS activist and child advocate married to actor and director Paul Michael Glaser. She contracted HIV very early in the modern AIDS epidemic after receiving an HIV-contaminated blood transfusion in 1981 while giving birth...
, who spoke on her experience with AIDS at the 1992 Democratic National Convention
1992 Democratic National Convention
The 1992 National Convention of the U.S. Democratic Party nominated Governor Bill Clinton of Arkansas for President and Senator Al Gore of Tennessee for Vice President; Clinton announced Gore as his running-mate on July 9, 1992. The convention was held at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New...
— with having "brought AIDS home to America." After that appearance, Fisher created a support group for families affected by AIDS and healthcare workers, the Family AIDS Network, and continued speaking as its representative, promoting education, prevention and acceptance of sufferers. Fisher spoke again at the 1996 Republican National Convention
1996 Republican National Convention
The 1996 National Convention of the Republican Party of the United States convened at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California, from August 12 to August 15, 1996...
in San Diego, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. Fisher did not return for the 2000 Republican National Convention
2000 Republican National Convention
The 2000 National Convention of the Republican Party of the United States convened at the First Union Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from July 31 to August 3, 2000. The 2066 delegates assembled at the convention nominated Texas Governor George W. Bush as the Republican candidate for U.S....
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
; she was replaced by fellow AIDS activist (and "abstinence-only" proponent) Patricia Funderburk Ware.
In 1999, Fisher made news when she, like some other HIV positive people, decided to stop taking anti-HIV medications which she felt were hurting her quality of life.
But she and her doctors continued to try new drug combinations and, by 2001, were able to suppress the virus without unmanageable side effects. Finding medications that could prolong healthy life marked a turning point, Fisher said in a 2007 MORE Magazine interview: “For years it was waiting to die, and then it was turning everything around and trying to figure out how to live.”
Fisher expanded her AIDS activism from public speaking into writing, art and international advocacy. She founded the non-profit Mary Fisher CARE Fund, based at the Center for AIDS Research at the University of Alabama at Birmingham
University of Alabama at Birmingham
The University of Alabama at Birmingham is a public university in Birmingham in the U.S. state of Alabama. Developing from an extension center established in 1936, the institution became an autonomous institution in 1969 and is today one of three institutions in the University of Alabama System...
, to support clinical AIDS research and promote public education about HIV/AIDS medicine and policy. She serves on the leadership council of the 'Global Coalition on Women and AIDS and with other HIV-positive women has toured the United States to raise awareness about the disease.
Fisher’s international work has focused on Africa and especially Zambia, where she has led fact-finding tours and has promoted income-generation projects to employ HIV-positive women. She has taught African women to create handmade jewelry which is then sold online and in U.S. galleries, with profits returned to the women artisans.
Artist
Fisher’s art has been exhibited in public and private collections around the world. Collectors include: President and Mrs. George H. W. BushGeorge H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
, President and Mrs. Gerald Ford
Gerald Ford
Gerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr. was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974...
, Mrs. Henry Ford II, President and Mrs. Mwanawasa of Zambia
Zambia
Zambia , officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. The neighbouring countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia to the south, and Angola to the west....
, and many others. Seven of her sculptures are displayed at the Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, headquarters of UNAIDS, as part of Art for AIDS, a collection created to recognize the role art has played in the response to AIDS. Fisher’s work also has been shown at the
Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum.
Mary Fisher is successfully represented year round by Goldenstein Gallery http://www.goldensteinart.com Uptown Sedona, AZ. A special show featuring Mary's work is held annually in November. The show is titled: CHI: Art as a Healing Medium. The opening reception is held the first Friday in November. Mary speaks in the gallery at least once a year. Visit the gallery website for details.
She is currently active with the Sedona Visual Artists Coalition
Author
Fisher is the author of five books: An autobiography called My Name is Mary: A Memoir; Angels in Our Midst, a photographic tribute to AIDS caregivers; ABATAKA, a collection of her 'AIDS-themed and African-influenced arts works; and two books containing transcripts of speeches, Sleep With the Angels and I’ll Not Go Quietly.External links
- American Rhetoric - clips and transcript of Fisher's 1992 RNC speech
- MaryFisher.com - Fisher's personal Web site
- Mary Fisher on Facebook - Fisher's Facebook fanpage