Walter Kenrick Fisher

Walter Kenrick Fisher (February 1, 1878 – November 2, 1953) was an American zoologist, evolutionary biologist, illustrator, and painter.

However, he was soon to show a preference for invertebrate zoology and this was facilitated by his service as a field naturalist for the US Biological Survey where he worked as an assistant on two of the "M.V.

[5] This was followed in 1911 by Asteroidea of the North Pacific and Adjacent Waters, a monograph published by the U. S. National Museum which contained 400 pages, illustrated by Fisher with over 100 plates.

He continued to work after retirement, studying the collections of the Smithsonian Institution, where he was as a Research Associate, even in the week before his death.

Fisher also created a series of cartoons satirizing prominent ornithological figures of the time, which were published in the Condor in 1901.

[2] His interest in ornithology persisted throughout his life, and in addition to his work on invertebrates, he authored papers about birds in journals such as The Auk and the Condor, as well as in various publications by the United States Government.

Once the new laboratory was built at Lovers Point in 1917, he took up the post of its resident director and for nearly ten years he was its only full-time member of staff.

During Fisher's time as director of the Hopkins Marine Station he was involved in the zoological training of many graduate students.

[1] Fisher had continued to draw and paint throughout his life, illustrating his own papers as well as co-operating with others on technical publications such as Birds of Laysan and the Leeward Islands, Hawaiian Group.

[11] Fisher was a member of the Carmel Art Association and frequently exhibited his paintings there and also in other galleries on the Monterey Peninsula.

[12] His journals recording field trips to study mammals and birds in northern California, Nevada, the Sierras, and the Mono Lake region from 1897 to 1901 form the Walter K. Fisher Journals collection which are retained by the Stanford University Libraries Department of Special Collections and University Archives.