He graduated from Indiana University Bloomington in 1970 with a degree in political science and was a member of Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity.

[5] As a young lawyer, Fehr assisted the MLBPA in the Andy Messersmith and Dave McNally arbitration case (later known as the Seitz decision).

Fehr led the players union through the 1994–95 Major League Baseball strike and subsequent World Series cancellation.

He was instrumental in implementing the rejection of future admissions into the MLBPA of replacement players who planned to fill in during the strike of 1995.

On June 22, 2009, Fehr announced his intention to step down as the MLBPA executive director position, recommending Michael Weiner as his successor.

[17] In an October 2021 report detailing the sexual assault of Kyle Beach by the Chicago Blackhawks’ video coach Brad Aldrich and ensuing coverup by the organization revealed Beach reported this assault to Fehr, who ultimately did nothing.

[19] Fehr left his NHLPA post in February 2023, replaced by former United States Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh.