Avery Fisher - Later Accomplishments

Later Accomplishments

In the 1950s, Fisher introduced the transistorized amplifier and the first stereo radio-phonograph. He did not, as previously reported in Wikipedia, invent the transistorized amplifier. The scientists that were responsible for the 1947 invention of the transistor were: John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and William Shockley. A transistor can be considered as either an amplifier or a switch. Nonetheless, these breakthroughs brought Fisher both fame and fortune. From 1959 to 1961, his company also made important improvements in AM-FM stereo tuner design. In 1969, Fisher sold his company to the Emerson Electric Company for US $31 million, which in turn sold the company to Sanyo of Japan. Fisher was a consultant for both Emerson and Sanyo.

Fisher was a noted philanthropist during his life, sitting on the boards of the New York Philharmonic and The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.

Fisher died at age 87 in New York City on February 26, 1994 from complications of a stroke.

Today, Avery Fisher is best known for the auditorium in the Lincoln Center cultural complex in upper Manhattan that bears his name. Avery Fisher Hall houses the New York Philharmonic, among various other cultural performances and musical ensembles. The hall was named for Fisher in 1973 after he made a US $10.5 million donation to the Philharmonic.

Fisher had a reputation for modesty. John Mazzola, the general manager of Lincoln Center, had to persuade him to let them rename Philharmonic Hall after him. Fisher said that no one paid attention to such things, and asked, "Who's Major Deegan?" (a reference to the Major Deegan Expressway).