{{Short description|American author}} {{BLP sources|date=October 2009}} {{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see :Template:Infobox writer/doc --> | name = TJ Fisher | image = TJFisher.jpg | imagesize = | birth_date = <!-- uncomment the template to use it: {{Birth date and age|year|mo|da}} --> | birth_place = | death_date = | death_place = | occupation = Author | nationality = American | education = | alma_mater = | genre = | notableworks = | spouse = | partner = | awards = | website = {{URL|http://www.tjfisher.com}} }} '''TJ Fisher''' is an American Southern author,<ref>{{cite magazine |title= The Year in Awards |magazine= Publishers Weekly |date= 2007-12-31 |quote= Benjamin Franklin Awards, Best First Book (nonfiction) ''Orléans Embrace with the Secret Gardens of the Vieux Carré''; Best New Voice (Nonfiction) ''Orléans Embrace with The Secret Gardens of the Vieux Carré''}}</ref> documentarist and social critic. She resides in New Orleans, Louisiana; and Palm Beach, Florida.
== Career == Prior to being an author, Fisher worked as a journalist, gossip columnist, documentary filmmaker and advertising agency/public relations executive.{{Citation needed|date=October 2009}} As an author and poet, Fisher's works have focused on New Orleans and the historic French Quarter (Vieux Carré).
After Hurricane Katrina, in late 2005 Fisher authored the narrative ''Orléans Embrace'', for which she received praise for her prose.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.morganapress.com/Orleans_Embrace.pdf|title=Book Review - 'Orléans Embrace:' a Magnificent Tribute to a City's Soul| last= Kenner| first= Ron |date=2007-04-05|publisher=The American Reporter|accessdate=2009-10-01|url-status=dead |archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20101126222545/http://morganapress.com/Orleans_Embrace.pdf|archivedate=2010-11-26}}</ref> ''Orléans Embrace'' is a three-part compendium: the first and third parts are by Fisher,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Oh-the-places-you-ll-probably-never-go-Except-2570073.php|title=Oh, the places you'll probably never go. Except in photos.| last=McMahon| first= Regan |date=2007-03-15|publisher= | work= San Francisco Chronicle|access-date=31 January 2010}}</ref> and the middle part is the companion book ''The Secret Gardens of the Vieux Carré'' by Roy F. Guste, Jr. with photography by Louis Sahuc.<ref>{{cite web| url= http://www.beatrice.com/A2A/archives/002138.html|title=TJ Fisher & Joshua Clark |last=Hogan|first=Rob|date=2007-08-24| publisher= | website= Beatrice.com |accessdate=2009-10-01}}</ref> She was not paid for her work on the (post-Katrina) French Quarter fundraising book ''A Crusade for New Orleans''.<ref>{{cite news| url= http://www.morganapress.com/press/2/may0207.html|title=A Crusade for New Orleans|last=Sjostrom|first=Jan|date=2007-05-02|work=Palm Beach Daily News |accessdate=2009-10-01|url-status=dead |archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20101126222454/http://morganapress.com/press/2/may0207.html |archivedate=2010-11-26}}</ref>
Fisher received awards for Best New Voice Nonfiction and The Bill Fisher Award for Best First Book Nonfiction for ''Orléans Embrace with The Secret Gardens of the Vieux Carré'' at the PMA Publishers Marketing Association Benjamin Franklin Awards in 2007.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ibpa-online.org/pubresources/benfrank2007_finalist.aspx|title=Benjamin Franklin Award Winners and Finalists 2007|publisher=Independent Book Publishers Association |accessdate=30 January 2010|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090731125818/http://www.ibpa-online.org/pubresources/benfrank2007_finalist.aspx|archivedate=31 July 2009}}</ref> At the Independent Publisher Book Awards it received a gold medal in the Home & Garden category.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.independentpublisher.com/article.php?page=1157|title=Announcing 2007 Independent Publisher Book Awards Results |publisher=Independent Publisher|accessdate=30 January 2010}}</ref> The title also won the Best Books 2007 Awards in the Home: General category.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.usabooknews.com/bestbooksawards2007.html |title= Best Books 2007 Awards| website= usabooknews.com| date= | publisher= |url-status=dead |archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20080801072106/http://www.usabooknews.com/bestbooksawards2007.html |archivedate=2008-08-01 |accessdate=2025-01-05}}</ref>
She was nominated for a Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance SIBA Book Award for her poetry in ''Hearsay from Heaven and Hades: New Orleans Secrets of Sinners and Saints''.<ref>{{Cite web|title=2009 SIBA Book Award Nominations| url= https://www.authorsroundthesouth.com/siba-book-awards/7667-2009-siba-book-award-nominations|last= |first= |website= authorsroundthesouth.com |date= 2009-10-06|language=en-GB| url-status= unfit| archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20100317212055/https://www.authorsroundthesouth.com/siba-book-awards/7667-2009-siba-book-award-nominations| archivedate= 2010-03-17| quote= Poetry...Hearsay from Heaven and Hades: New Orleans Secrets of Sinners and Saints, T.J. Fisher| access-date= 2025-01-05}}</ref> The title won the Best Books 2009 Awards Poetry: General category.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.usabooknews.com/2009bestbooksawards.html |title= 2009 best book awards |website= usabooknews.com |date= |access-date= }}</ref>
Beyond personal experience, her first post-Katrina work "imprinted a style reminiscent of Lafcadio Hearn".<ref>Library of Congress librarian/ALA New Orleans Conference quotation, 2006</ref> ''Gris Gris Rouge'', a periodical in Louisiana, wrote that Fisher's narratives celebrate and capture the elusive quality of New Orleans.<ref>{{cite magazine |last= Norton |first= George |magazine= Gris Gris Rouge |publisher= | title= T.J. Fisher| date= March–April 2007}}</ref>
==Real estate and controversy== In the late 1990s, Fisher was one of the original owner/developers of the Ritz-Carlton Coconut Grove, Miami, Florida;<ref>{{cite news |last= Piscopo |first= Nicole |title= A Salute to the Little Black Dress |work= Palm Beach Post |date= 1997-12-27}}</ref> she was also associated with the South Beach and Baltimore Ritz projects.
On several joint-venture projects Fisher aligned with Philip Pilevsky of Philips International,<ref>{{cite news |title= Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union Releases Report Analyzing Hidden Risks of Proposed Ritz-Carlton Project |publisher= The Center for Hospitality Research |date= 2001-06-09}}</ref> the on-off financier/partner of hotelier Ian Schrager. The Schrager/Philip pairing began with Studio 54. Later, in conjunction with designer Philip Stark, they founded original boutique hotels, including New York City's Paramount Hotel and Royalton Hotel, Miami's Delano Hotel and Shore Club, and Los Angeles's Mondrian Hotel.<ref>{{cite news |last= Zarco |first= Cyn |title= Strange bedfellows: South Beach hotel confidential |work= South Florida CEO |date= May 2003}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title= Schrager signs deal to manage Miami's Beach Shore Club |work= Hotel Business |date= 2002-07-10}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |last= Miller |first= Susan |title= And now, Miami nice.Ian Schrager reopens Miami Beach, Florida's Delano Hotel, designed by Philippe Starck |magazine= Newsweek |date= 1995-07-10}}</ref>
In 2007 former football player Michael McCrary added Fisher to a lawsuit against her husband and others for $60 million. The Circuit Court for Baltimore City civil litigation concerned a hurricane-derailed New Orleans real estate venture at the New Orleans landmark (Crescent City Towers) Plaza Tower site. McCrary's case targeted a tangle of Louisiana limited liability companies. The soured real estate and development investment deal netted McCrary and a web of partnerships millions of dollars in post-Katrina profits within a few months. McCrary reaped $2,384,639 in profits and the return of his $3,550,000 capital investment.<ref>{{cite news |last= Kearney |first= Brendan |title= Former Baltimore Raven Michael McCrary win is on appeal |work= Daily Record| place= Baltimore, Maryland |date= 2009-03-09}}</ref> In June 2008, a judge in Baltimore rendered a $33.3 million default judgment against Fisher and others, in favor of McCrary. Preceding the award, defendants and their attorneys were precluded from speaking or participating in the damages hearing inquisition. Legal analysts cited U.S. Constitution and due process violations. Fisher was unable to post a $33.3 million supersedeas bond to stay execution of the judgment against her during the pendency of the appeal. Nearly a year after the decision, the Maryland Court of Special Appeals granted a stay against the judgment without a bond being posted.<ref>{{cite news |last= Kearney |first= Brendan |title= Maryland Court of Special Appeals finds ex-Raven can't collect while award is on appeal |work= Daily Record| place= Baltimore, Maryland |date= 2009-05-11}}</ref> In June 2009, the Maryland intermediate appellate court tossed the $33.3-million-dollar award.<ref>{{cite news |last= Kearney |first= Brendan |title= Retired Raven Michael McCrary loses $33M award in Md. Court of Special Appeals |work= Daily Record| place= Baltimore, Maryland |date= 2009-06-09}}</ref>
In earlier Pre-Katrina litigation on eminent domain site expropriation by the New Orleans Morial Convention Center, Fisher retained Johnnie Cochran to represent herself and a partner.<ref>{{cite news |last= Jensen |first= Lynne |title= Jury award upheld in fight over home |work= Times-Picayune |date= 2003-05-02}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last= Jensen |first= Lynne |title= Warehouse defeat stuns state lawyers |work= Times-Picayune |date= 2003-02-27}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last= Jensen |first= Lynne |title= Doctor seeks $12.5 million for expropriated property |work= Times-Picayune |date= 2003-02-21}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last= Jensen |first= Lynne |title= Convention Center wins lawsuit |work= Times-Picayune |date= 2003-02-05}}</ref> On a separate but nearby parcel of property, Fisher turned over her winning-bid auction contract on a multimillion-dollar Mississippi River riverfront ex-casino property to Tulane University, at no profit, for future development of the Riversphere project.<ref>{{cite news |last= Thomas |first= Gregg |title= Tulane secures ex-casino property |work= Times-Picayune |date= 2004-08-27}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last= Thomas |first= Gregg |title= Convention enter property maneuver created suspicions |work= Times-Picayune |date= 2004-08-24}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last= Thomas |first= Gregg |title= Tulane may get riverfront land despite recent auction outcome |work= Times-Picayune |date= 2004-08-24}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last= Thomas |first= Gregg |title= Developer's bid lands ex-casino site |work= Times-Picayune |date= 2004-08-04}}</ref> The former River Gate Casino tract was previously associated with hotelier/developer/dreamer Christopher Hemmeter and Louisiana ex-governor Edwin Edwards.<ref>{{cite news |last1= Dubos |first1= Clancy |last2= Winston |first2= Sam |title= In the last 25 years, New Orleans changed dramatically in some ways. In others, it remains as constant as the Mississippi River |work= Gambit Weekly |date= 2006-03-21}}</ref>
== Personal life == Fisher and her husband Neil Fisher helped found the Rufus Fisher Dog Angel program at Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine, a program established in memory of their late yellow Labrador retriever.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.vet.ksu.edu/depts/development/programs/DogAngel.htm |title= Rufus Fisher Dog Angel Program |website= vet.ksu.edu |date= | publisher= College of Veterinary Medicine, Kansas State University |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080626034956/http://www.vet.ksu.edu/depts/development/programs/DogAngel.htm |archive-date= 2008-06-26 |access-date= 2026-01-05}}</ref>
Fisher possesses one of the three original 1940s Howdy Doody marionettes,<ref>{{cite av media |last= Bagwill |first= Bill |title= Greater New Orleans: Road to Recovery |publisher= WLAE-TV PBS |date= 2007-05-03}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last= Fisher |first= TJ |chapter= Part Three |title= Orléans Embrace: With the Secret Gardens of the Vieux Carré |publisher= Morgana Press |year= 2006 |pages= 66, 388 |isbn= 978-0-9773514-7-3}}</ref> Photo Doody.<ref>{{cite news |last= Henderson |first= John |title= Howdy Comes to Town |work= Palm Beach Daily News |date= 1997-01-11}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last= Henderson |first= John |title= PBer Won't Sell Howdy Doody |work= Palm Beach Daily News |date= 1997-08-20}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last= Kessler |first= Ron |title= The Season: The Secret Life of Palm Beach and America's Richest Society |publisher= HarperCollins |year= 1999 |isbn= 9780060193911 |page= 31}}</ref>
== References == {{reflist}}
== External links == * [http://www.tjfisher.com Official website]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Fisher, TJ}} Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Living people Category:Writers from New Orleans Category:People from Palm Beach, Florida Category:American women writers Category:21st-century American women