A MUCH-LOVED and respected GP, pillar of the community and outstanding orator has died peacefully at the age of 90.

Jim Fisher came from a medical family and was the son and grandson of general practitioners in Kings Langley, Hertfordshire. He had two younger sisters; Jo and Robin. Jo was a hotelier in Somerset and Lincolnshire and now lives in retirement in Penticton, British Columbia, Canada.

Robin was a much-loved teacher for 45 years at Walhampton School, Lymington.

After an education at Oundle School and Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, Jim undertook his medical training at University College London through the war years, qualifying in 1945. He then came to work as a house officer at Boscombe Hospital which marked the start of his long attachment to Bournemouth. In 1948 Jim went into partnership with Dr Stuart Robertson.

As their general practice expanded they took on Graham Robertson as a partner in 1953 and together designed and opened Bournemouth’s first purpose-built surgery at 85 Castle Lane which was successively enlarged. In 1986, the practice expanded and moved to Tolpuddle Gardens where the present surgery is named ‘The James Fisher Medical Centre’.

Jim developed, with Dr Justin Clark, the Wessex GP training scheme in the mid-60s and was instrumental in the building of Bournemouth’s Postgrad- uate medical centre in 1972. He was Provost of the Wessex Faculty of the Royal College of GPs for seven years. In 1988 he became Master of the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries of London, a role that his father Reginald Fisher had also held in 1956.

Meantime, in the community, he was District Commissioner for the Scouts, a JP for 33 years, a lay preacher, church warden and a visitor’s chaplain at Winchester Cathedral. Jim was also a tireless supporter of many charities, particularly The Royal Medical Benevolent Fund and Tenovus.

He married Rosemary on July 8, 1950, and had a family of three sons and two daughters: Adrian (born 1951), an international maze designer, inventor and author, who lives in Durweston, Dorset, Sarah (born 1952), a school development director who lives in London; Victoria (born 1954), a lecturer in law at Leicester University, who died in 1986, Michael (born 1956), a mechanical engineer, who lives in Perth, Western Australia and William (born 1957), a geologist and president of various mining companies, who lives in Toronto, Canada.

The family lived for 19 years at Throop House, where Jim and Rosemary and their family welcomed many guests in its three-acre landscape garden. They then spent 25 years in the picturesque Throop Mill Cottage, where they created their second riverside garden on the River Stour, this time on a more intimate scale in just over one acre. It too has been the venue for many charitable and social events over the years.

Jim Fisher was active throughout his life, retaining his sharp mind and lively wit throughout. He enjoyed Scouting expeditions, camping holidays and travelling, making his final overseas trip to Canada last summer to visit his sister Jo. Just three days before his death on December 19, he hosted a birthday party for his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

A memorial service was held on December 28, 2012 at the Holy Epiphany Church, on Castle Lane.

Jim is survived by his wife Rosemary, four children, seven grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

Adrian Fisher (his eldest son)