Franklin Frederick Fisher

Franklin Frederick Fisher, a true Renaissance man and a gifted writer, teacher, musician, and artist, died on August 8, 2022, at the age of 82.

Franklin was born in Bakersfield to Nellie Rex Smith Fisher and Frank Truman Fisher and spent his early years in Santa Maria and Altadena, California.

He graduated with a Ph.D. in Eighteenth Century English Literature from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He then taught writing and English literature at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and spent 39 years teaching creative writing, English literature, and Intellectual Traditions of the West in the English Department at the University of Utah. He served as Creative Writing Director, and his seminars in creative writing, both at the University in Salt Lake City and at Pack Creek Ranch and the La Sal Mountains, Moab, were high points for students in the Creative Writing Program.

Franklin was a talented and prolific writer of over 35 short stories published in various scholarly magazines and the novel “Bones,” published by the University of Utah Press and winner of First Prize in the 1984 Utah Arts Council Original Writing Competition. He was in the process of completing two more novels at the time of his death.

Franklin was also a gifted musician both as a scholar of music history and as a guitarist. He played folk, classical, and jazz guitar solo and in bands in California and Utah. He was the arranger and accompanist for his partner and singer Rosemary Beless for over fifty years at hundreds of venues, including the Utah Museum of Fine Arts, the Utah Chamber Music Society, and the Utah Shakespeare Festival.

Franklin married Susan Richards Fisher, later divorced, and raised two children, Duncan Garth Fisher (Gina) and Ethan Kemp Fisher (Kelly). His grandchildren are Max, Louis, Aoife, and Niamh Fisher.

Franklin had the good fortune of later meeting his loving, caring, and devoted partner Rosemary Beless, who was his constant companion and champion for the remainder of his life.

Funeral services will be held Monday, August 15, 2022, at 11:00 a.m. in the chapel at Larkin Mortuary, 260 East South Temple, and friends may greet family members between 10:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. prior to the service. Dedication of the grave will be held at Mount Olivet Cemetery following the service.