Fisher, Edgar J. (Edgar Jacob), 1885-1968

American educator; dean, Robert College, Constantinople, 1917-1919 and 1922-1934.

Biographical Note

Edgar Jacob Fisher was born in 1885. He earned his PhD from Columbia University in 1911, where he authored New Jersey as a Royal Province, 1738 to 1766 (New York: Columbia University). As a proponent of international education, Fisher worked as a professor of social studies and dean of Robert College in Constantinople (Istanbul) from 1917 to 1933. In 1924, Fisher was briefly dismissed by the Turkish Minister of Education for allegedly speaking unfavorably about the government to a group of tourists, only to be rehired in 1925. In his time in Turkey, Fisher wrote a number of short articles that appeared in professional journals and The New York Times about the state of affairs during the first World War and international education. He also worked as the assistant director of the Institute of International Education. He died in 1968.