Fry was born in Owatonna, Minnesota[2] and subsequently lived in Iowa and Kansas City, Missouri.

In 1953, while still enrolled in undergraduate school, Fry took a job at 3M (then called Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company) as a new product development researcher.

Silver's innovation had an unusual molecular structure, yielding an adhesive strong enough to cling to objects but weak enough to allow for a temporary bond.

Fry sang in his church choir, and he used slips of paper to mark the pages of his workbook.

He was mentioned in the 1997 film Romy and Michele's High School Reunion as the true inventor of Post-its.

Post-it Note inventor Arthur Fry participated in the panel which was curated by current MOMA head of design Paola Anton.

During the summer of 2004, Fry acted as a judge for eCybermission, an Army-sponsored Math and Science competition.

[4] However, in 2016, he launched a further suit against 3M,[4][5] asserting that 3M were wrongly claiming to be the inventors, and seeking $400 million in damages.