Milton Byron Fisher, Jr. passed away peacefully at home in Murray, Utah, on September 16, 2023, surrounded by family during a BYU football game, a fitting end for a great man who loved home, family, and the Y. He is survived by his sister Carol Fisher [John] Harper, his beloved wife, Ida Joan Peterson Fisher, his 5 children, Debra Joan Fisher [Thomas] Morgan, Michael Byron [Crystal] Fisher, Janae Fisher [Brian] Powell, Sharlene Fisher [Brian] Taylor, and Peter Charles [Nicole] Fisher, 18 grandchildren, and 11 great-grandchildren.
Byron was born December 5, 1936, in Honolulu, Hawaii, to Milton Byron Fisher, Sr. and Louise Larsen Fisher, and has always honored his island origins. He spent his youth working shoulder to shoulder with his beloved parents and siblings in Bountiful and Provo, Utah. He graduated co-valedictorian from Brigham Young High School in Provo, Utah.
Byron loved his 2.5-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to Mexico, and remained enthusiastically fluent in Spanish his entire life. During his mission, he helped to open cities to LDS mission work, including Guadalajara, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, and Querétaro.
Byron then enrolled at BYU in Provo, Utah, and began dating Ida Joan Peterson. They soon became "Joan and Byron" and would remain so for the rest of his life. Their love lives on throughout their extended families. To say “Byron loved his family,” hardly captures the hundreds of loving relationships.
Joan and Byron would finish BYU together, move to Washington, DC to attend George Washington University Law School, and have a daughter, Debbie. Byron worked his legal career at Fabian and Clendenin in Salt Lake City, specializing in school district law, a specialty he would later teach at BYU Law School. Their Salt Lake City years completed their family with 4 more children, Michael, Janae, Shari, and Peter, and spanned more than 30 years, 4 homes, and 1 mountain cabin.
Byron worked hard to balance his legal career with family development, community service, and personal hobbies. He served two terms in the Utah State House of Representatives. His service in a community of faith was consistent throughout his life. He served in almost every capacity as a member of the LDS church, including as the bishop of the Winder 10th Ward and of the Big Cottonwood Stake Singles Ward, where he was affectionately known as “Bish Fish.” After retirement, Joan and Byron would combine their faith and professionalism as missionary servants in both Brazil and Mexico.
The post-professional years moved Joan and Byron to Springdale, Utah, surrounding themselves with the beauty of Zion National Park, pottery, travel, and visits from friends, children, and grandchildren. Byron said, “Children are great, grandchildren are perfect, and great-grandchildren are almost exalted.” After several years, they returned to Salt Lake City, settling near family in Murray, Utah.
Byron was a talented tennis player and skier, but pottery was the craft he loved to share. He became an expert at creating thousands of household items, most of which passed hands with a smile as a “gift from the heart.” These pieces of his legacy can be found in hearts and homes throughout the world.
Byron’s later contributions were made possible by the gift of a heart transplant, allowing him vitality for another 17 years, an offering he prayed could be measured in lives touched and lives blessed. It is Big By’s dying wish that any donations given by his passing go to an organ transplantation charity of the giver’s choosing.
Funeral services will be held at Joan and Byron’s home ward chapel at 6350 South Rodeo Lane, in Murray, Utah.
Gathering: Friday, September 22, 2023: 5pm-7pm.
Family Greeting: Saturday, September 23, 2023: 9:30am-10:30am.
Funeral: Saturday, September 23, 2023: 11am.
Interment: Larkin Sunset Gardens,1950 East Dimple Dell Road, Sandy, Utah.
BYU at Kansas: Saturday, September 23, 2023: 1:30pm.
I love you all. May God bless you. I will miss my Uncle.
Aloha Debbie,
We are sorry for your lost . We remember your father’s visit to our home along with his family many years ago . It was then that we met you and Tom , who became our Mission President in Mew York. Your father was our daughter’s Bishop in Salt Lake City.
He was a very loving Bishop and we are grateful for his influence in her life. May the love of our Heavenly Father and His son Jesus Christ comfort and sustain you.
One of the great men I have known and one of the great friends I have had has gone home to the Lord. He will be greatly missed but never forgotten. His life speaks for itself, we all should be so fortunate. Ruth and I love Joan and Byron and will continue to do so through out the eternities. Great memories will remain!!
what great memories we have of all of you!!
What a great man he is and continues to be!
We pray for you at this time and always!
Joan, I am so sorry for your loss.. You and Byron are a dynamic couple! As you and I know , you will be together again which is such a comforting knowledge.
My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family..
I have just lost the second of my two best friends, Fred Paulson and now Byron. Gina and I met Byron and Joan after I had just completed my masters degree at the Y and moved into a the Winder Ward in SLC. We rented a condo on 13th East and one of the first couples we met in the ward were the Fishers. Our common BYU backgrounds and love for all things BYU made us fast friends immediatly. Just when we were ready to buy a home in Bountiful, Byron and I were called into the Winder 12 ward bishopric as counselors to Bishop Bob Blackhurst. From thereon, our lives have been intertwined. Tennis together, trips to cabins, family trips to western Canada together, a very memorable trip to NY City and broadway shows, and on to New England states during the fall colors eating our share of Lobster, and a very recent dinner together at Asian Star, are a few of our special times together. We dearly love you, Byron, Joan and family and offer our heartfelt condolences in the passing of our dear eternal friend, Byron.
Knew Byron as a newly minted attorney before his Fabian days. He was a good friend who nominated his wife for Mother of the Year which she won. He helped me get a job at Fabian for which I was grateful. In the small world category my parents lived in Provo for a few years and my Father, an accountant, helped Joan’s father “keep his books “ and prepare the taxes for his business. The next generation connected with my daughter and his daughter, Emily and Janae. Janae inherited his compassion for others. Congratulations to all for being examples of lives well lived. I will be out of town for a different memorial but please know I was a fan of your Father and husband. ❤️
Going to miss him a great bishop of the Big Cottonwood Stake 17 th ward I was married in his back yard in Hollady to a lovely women my prayers are with these fantastic family as these family gathered together may they comfort there mom at these time Family are forever you will see him a again
Although i only met Milton, a couple of times to teach me pottery his positive out look on things will alway leave a lasting memory of him.
Some people you can tell their soul by their outward kindness. Thank you Milton for allowing me to take away a price of you in my soul.
My prayers and condolences go out to the family. May you have peace in this difficult time.
Byron was my favorite customer at Continental Bank. I worked there in the 60s and then he was my divorce lawyer 20 years later and took really good care of me. I think I remember him more than I do the man I divorced and I say that in a most respectful way, he’s quite a gentleman and I just Accidentally ran across his name today and I am so happy that I can show some kind of honor to him they live in these condolences, my love and my blessing to you and your family Byron and thank you for the blessing you have been to me the bank was the 70s not 60s
Our dear Joan, I (Bob) have known our dear friend Byron for more than 65 years and we, together with the Brackens, have met and interacted regularly with you and Byron since the year 2007. Byron is highly intelligent and has always demonstrated wisdom in the exercise thereof as he has unselfishly ministered to family, friends and anyone within his sphere of influence. He is a people person with a contagious sense of humor which endears him to everyone. We love Byron, and we love you. We joyfully anticipate a continuation of the sociality which has existed between and among us in years to come-into eternity. In the meantime, we hope and pray for peace and comfort in your family as you experience the temporary physical loss of your husband, father grandfather and great grandfather. Bob & Joy
Dear Joan and family. I was sorry to learn about your loss. I know Byron is a dear friend of my parents, and whenever I interacted with him, he was always so cheerful and friendly to me. I'm grateful for what I learned and experienced from him. I wish you the very best and hope you will feel love from your family, friends, and especially the peace and comfort that comes from our Savior. - Love Caryn
Byron was a light in this world and he will be so missed. Always so loving and welcoming. He would never shy away from the opportunity to tell a joke, inappropriate or not! He came into the room smiling and left with everyone else smiling. He was a great man, husband, father, friend and example. He shared his talents and knowledge so graciously and I still cherish and use the vegetable platter he made us for our wedding. I’m so grateful I got to know Byron and know he’s still smiling down on us all. Love you guys!
I can see his smile and feel his hug just thinking about him. I used my pottery dishes just the other day from him. An incredible man who leaves a legacy. He gave me such heart-felt advice.
Dear Joan and Family,
We are sorry to hear of Byron's passing. We as you have loved and appreciated his loving kindness to us. Byron helped us with the adoption of our son Kent Thomas Larsen, with our last will and trust and with his pottery. We remember stories he shared that are classics never to be forgotten. We will miss our hugs and get togethers very much and send our love. Elder Ralph and Sister Sharon Larsen Minneapolis Minnesota Mission
Byron meant so much to our family as I know he did to everyone he knew. He was so Christ like..... loving, kind, generous and devoted to his family and everyone without regard to their circumstances or past. One of Dad's choices memories of service included Byron. Love to Joan and all of your family.
Blake and Diane Hobson
Dear Joan, Wendy and I were saddened to hear of Byron's passing. He was fun to be with and I was delighted when he married my cute little next door neighbor and friend. We were both debater in hIgh school and his decision to become a lawyer was one of the reasons why I later decided to go to law school. No doubt his talents and people skills will be put to use in some way in the next life. He will also be remembered by his many friends and colleagues as a good friend and example. Love, Toney and Wendy Bentley
Joan and Byron watched me and my siblings grow up in the Big Cottonwood 12th Ward. My parents were great friends of the Fishers. We spent time together traveling to Mazatlan with them.. All of our family love the Fisher family. Not many men are able to convey the love they have for people like Byron can. Perhaps that is his greatest legacy that you knew you were loved whenever you were in his presence.. After my father, Richard W. Hobson, passed away in December 2020 I looked to Byron as a surrogate father.. I listened to his advice and heeded it. He was one of the most brilliant men I’ve known. My mother Chris Hobson loved to have breakfast at Denny’s. Near her birthday that is July 18th Byron and I had breakfast together.to celebrate their great friendship. My father loved Byron so much. They regularly got together and exchanged books. Both were avid readers. Loss is HARD and we miss those we love deeply. Praying that the gratitude we have for the experiences we shared with Byron and the Fisher family will warm our hearts in the years to come.
Joan, We just learned last night that Byron had died. It saddened our hearts to hear this news.
Our hearts are with you at this time. So grateful for the gospel and the plan of salvation!
May the Lord be with you during this time.
Our Love, Sam & Sybelle
Byron was one of the sweetest and happiest people I've known. He always had a smile on his face which of course made anyone around him smile too. His sense of humor was the best. Will miss our little chats. One of my favorite people. :)
Such a good man! We cherish our relationship with him both with work and in our personal lives. May you be comforted during this difficult time and May His blessings always be yours. With love, Paul & Norma