The Service for Dr. Fisher will be live streamed on the Facebook Page of Fisher Memorial Funeral Parlor
FACE MASKS ARE REQUIRED!
In lieu of flowers, the family would prefer donations be made to any one of the following: Ferguson Merit Scholarship at UNCG; Ada Virginia Foster Fisher endowed scholarship at Virginia Union University; Miles Mark Fisher endowed scholarship at Morehouse College; Ada Virginia Foster Fisher and Miles Mark Fisher endowed scholarship at North Carolina Central University; or Shaw University general scholarship fund.
Dr. Ada Markita Fisher
Dr. Ada Markita Fisher unexpectedly died on October 7, 2022. She was born October 21, 1947, in Durham, NC as the sixth child of Rev. Dr. Miles Mark Fisher and Mrs. Ada Virginia Foster Fisher. She was the embodiment of a renaissance woman who used her many talents to help others follow the path she trailblazed. Her dreams were to become the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services secretary and ride on the space shuttle.
Following graduation from Hillside High School in Durham with honors, she earned her Bachelor of Science degree in biology from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) in 1970. She was a UNCG distinguished service alumni recipient and first black alumna to receive an M.D. degree. From UNCG she went on to the University of Wisconsin’s School of Medicine and Public Health, where in 1975, she was the sixth black and first black female graduate. Thereafter she pursued her residency in family medicine at the University of Rochester.
Her Master’s in Public Health (MPH) degree from Johns Hopkins University’s School of Hygiene and Public Health followed in 1981. An MPH enabled her to transition from the clinical side of medicine to conduct research, develop policy and serve in management positions to meet more effectively the health needs of the populations for those she was about to serve. In 1984 she was honored as one of 10 Outstanding Young Women of America.
Throughout her life, she was passionate about her faith, education, family, politics, playing trivia games, restoring antique furniture, and writing, especially poetry. She converted to Judaism while in medical school. She was a member of the Atomic Chapter Number 13 Order of the Eastern Star, a Masonic auxiliary body. Her faith sustained her in an atmosphere of not always feeling welcomed because of her uniqueness, culture, and experiences despite being the first.
Her first job following medical school was as a member of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps in Greenevers, NC, a medically underserved community. There she was director of Plain View Health Center. Her countless contributions to the medical field included time as the substance abuse detoxification director at John Umstead Hospital in Butner, NC and an independent medical examiner. She was an industrial physician with Martin Marietta Energy Systems, Inc. in Oak Ridge, TN. While still in Oak Ridge, TN, Dr. Fisher started her own home-based talent agency, $ASci, to counsel clients and connect them with talent agents.
Other experiences include her time in Chicago, IL. At Amoco Oil Company, a $28 billion multinational oil, gas, chemical and technology company, she held three positions: medical policies and practices manager; medical director; and occupational medicine director. Her medical career culminated as an occupational health services consultant and chief of occupational health services at the W. G. “Bill” Hefner Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salisbury, NC. One of her proudest moments was to help draft the Occupational Health Services Standards of Care for corporate America and the Veterans Affairs health system. She also consistently sought to help veterans receive the benefits they earned.
Aside from medicine, Dr. Fisher was also a licensed teacher in secondary math and science. Her teaching practicum occurred in Greensboro, NC at Mendelhall Middle School where she and her sister, Mrs. Florida F. Parker, integrated the faculty. She volunteered as part of the Salisbury-Rowan Community Action Agency's Workforce Investment Act Program to tutor and mentor students who dropped out of high school. She is a former Rowan–Salisbury School System board of education member.
Additionally, she served on the boards of trustees of Barber-Scotia College (in Concord, NC) and Preservation NC.
Never one to mince words, she became an outspoken advocate for social justice and was a lifelong Republican. Having retired from practicing medicine, elected in 2008, she served as the Republican National Committee’s first black elected Committeewoman for North Carolina. Politics and family were her life.
Dr. Fisher always wanted a family of her own and decided to fulfill that dream through adoption. Her sons Shevin Michael Fisher and Charles Malvern Fisher brought adventure in ways she never imagined that motherhood would do. Her two grandchildren, Promise Markita Lucille Fisher (Shevin’s daughter) and DeShawn Master Fisher (Charles’ son) only heightened her family’s experiences. She loved to share all their stories through her annual holiday letters.
Her prolific writing extended to her Common Sense Conservative Prescriptions: Solutions for What Ails Us; Grandma is an Alien; Preparations to Survive A Terrorist Attack Citizens Advisory; Black Students in Higher Education in the 70’s; Conditions and Experiences; Counseling the Mother on Breast Feeding; Budgeting Sense – An Overview of Medical School for Spouses of Black Medical Students; The Paper Chase – A Synopsis of the Second Year Clinical Sciences for Black Medical Students; The Sting – A Quick Buzz Through the First Year for Black Medical Students; Hanging Loose – Hints for Black Medical Students on Tying It Together During the Fourth Year; The Quickie – A Brief Guide for Black Medical Students on Making It in the Clinical Rotations; Heart ‘N’ Soul; and "A Short History of African Americans in the North Carolina Republican Party." She was a frequent contributor to the Carolina Times as “Spectacles: A Closer Look” and guest columnist for the Salisbury Post. She is also credited with 12 professional medical articles.
Dr. Fisher has three Telly awards for films that she edited. Started in 1979, the Telly awards are the premier award honoring groundbreaking video and film productions. The work can be created for a specific brand or self-directed as a creative endeavor. The Silver Telly is the highest honor; she earned one for a safety film on chemical exposures.
She leaves to mourn her two sons, two grandchildren, siblings Mrs. Florida F. Parker, Olney, MD, Dr. Miles M. Fisher, IV, Washington, DC, Mr. Christopher T. Fisher (Yvonne), Durham, NC, sister-in-law Mrs. Janice J. Fisher, Chapel Hill, NC, and a host of nieces, nephews, and cousins. She was preceded in death by her parents Rev. Dr. and Mrs. Miles M. Fisher and siblings Messrs. Alfred F. Fisher and Elijah J. Fisher, III.