[3][4] Fisher grew up and attended elementary school in Iran, where his father served as an educational missionary for the United Presbyterian Church.
He served as executive secretary and president of the Modern Language Association; as executive secretary he was involved in the visa application process for Carlos Fuentes, who had been denied entrance to the U.S.,[8] and was instrumental in the foundation of the Association of Departments of English.
The South Atlantic Modern Language Association has an award in his honor,[10] as does the John Gower Society.
[12] Joseph Trahern edited a Festschrift in his honor, Standardizing English: Essays in the History of the English Language in Honor of John Hurt Fisher (University of Tennessee Press, 1989).
[13] His John Gower, Moral Philosopher and Friend of Chaucer (1964) was described as a "definitive life"[14] and a "landmark work".