The Rt Revd Stephen Platten writes:

DESPITE his humility and ability, Canon Peter Fisher, who died on 17 March, came from an august clerical background. Archbishop Geoffrey Fisher was his great-uncle, and Peter’s father, Jim, was a Canon of St George’s, Windsor.

Brought up in London, Peter was a chorister at the Temple Church and was educated at the City of London School, and thereafter at St Chad’s College, Durham, before training for the priesthood at Cuddesdon. It was while he was at St Chad’s that he met Elizabeth, who was also reading theology at St Mary’s College, within the same university. Peter’s marriage to Elizabeth was a defining feature of both their lives, both in their teaching and the enjoyment of their two sons. Elizabeth’s energetic and sharp mind further stimulated Peter’s enthusiasm for theology.

Peter served his title at St Andrew’s, Bedford, before moving to Guildford as Chaplain to the University of Surrey, in the challenging early years of the university. In 1978, Peter was appointed Sub-Warden, that is Vice-Principal, of Lincoln Theological College. Besides teaching doctrine, Peter was the “anchor man” of the institution, holding together many different strands and acting as a remarkable sign of stability when staff were sick or other pressures came to bear.

He was an outstanding colleague during my own years there (1978-83). At a time when new courses needed to be developed, with both the University of Nottingham and Bishop Grosseteste College of Education, Peter showed enormous patience, diligence, and ingenuity in piloting a journey filled with many possible pitfalls. The college’s future intellectual reputation thrived on the results of the energy and intelligence that Peter poured into this process.

After his six years at Lincoln, Peter was keen to return to parish ministry and was appointed Rector of the historic parish of Houghton-le-Spring, in County Durham, in 1983. It was a parish that exemplified much of the character of the county and diocese, with a fine medieval church. The ubiquitous quest for coal, however, had made a firm imprint on this ancient town, which increased both the interest and challenge of the living, not least during the miners’ strike of 1984-85.

Peter became a key priest within the region, serving as Rural Dean for five years from 1987, and Elizabeth had the opportunity to continue to teach theology, both through the diocese and within the university.

Both Houghton and Lincoln had prepared Peter ideally for the work of a theological-college principal, and, in 1994, he moved to the Queen’s Foundation, in Birmingham, to fulfil that vocation. The college, as an Anglican foundation that had become an ecumenical institution, added a further passion that Peter carried throughout his life: the search for Christian unity. It was not an easy time to lead such an institution and it produced many challenges. Peter rose to these with his natural determination, always fashioned by his kindness and humanity.

After eight years at Queen’s, Peter was ready to return to and to enjoy further parish ministry. He was appointed to the parish of Maney, near Sutton Coldfield, to the north-west of Birmingham, from which he retired in 2020. Throughout this time, he continued to contribute to ecumenical work as a member of the Church of England’s Faith and Order Commission, and was appointed an Honorary Canon of Birmingham Cathedral in 2000. Susan Durber, the European President of the World Council of Churches, wrote: “His most beautiful book, in his own compassionate voice and published in 2009, Outside Eden: Finding hope in an imperfect world, is a perfect testimony to his grounded, constant faith.”