Robert Charles “Haru” Fisher, an editor and writer, died on March 7, 2020 in New York, New York at 90. A former president and editor-in-chief of the Fodor travel guides, he was most proud of his work as a deep cover contract agent with the CIA’s International Organization Division (IOD) in Asia, mostly in Japan. In Tokyo, he was an adviser to future Prime Minister Takeo Miki, and while a graduate student at Tokyo University, represented the US National Student Association in East and Southeast Asia, among other duties for the Agency. As a USNSA rep, he sought foreign student leaders for scholarships in the US, such as the one his group granted Kofi Annan, later Secretary-General of the United Nations. Serving 13 years with the CIA, he felt the IOD represented the best the CIA could provide, relying on cultural tools, not bullets or bombs, to accomplish its goals. He left the CIA after the assassination of President Kennedy and disbanding of the IOD.

Later, while working as a travel writer and editor, he served as president of the New York Travel Writers Association, the Society of American Travel Writers and its Foundation, and as vice-president of the International Association for Medical Assistance for Travellers charity. He was also General Editor of the Crown series of guidebooks, and published the Fisher Annotated Travel Guides for ten years as well.

The author of several books on art and travel, he was a graduate cum laude of Harvard College, and studied at Columbia University Law School and Tokyo University Graduate School of Law. During the Korean War, he served in the US Army’s Counter Intelligence Corps in Japan and Korea, based in Hiroshima. He was a member of the American Club of Tokyo, the Harvard Club of New York City and the Victory Services Club of London.

He was born in Burlington Iowa, on March 3, 1930, the son of Ray Erwin Fisher, Sr. (a descendant of George Washington’s uncle, Col. Joseph Ball) and Blanche Columbia Brolin Fisher. He was preceded in death by his partner of 33 years, Harukuni Nishizawa of Tokyo, and two sisters and a brother. He is survived by three cousins, two nephews, a niece, three grandnephews, four grandnieces, great grandnieces, and great grandnephews.

At Robert’s request, no services will be held. Contributions should be sent to the International Association for Medical Assistance to Travellers charity, www.iamat.org.