Former retail manager ‘played a critical role’ in boosting circulation of ‘Charisma’ magazine

Murray Fisher, a widely respected veteran of the Christian publishing world, died Jan. 6. He was 75.

A former retail manager who turned to Christian publishing more than 40 years ago, Fisher headed circulation, marketing and publishing efforts at three leading Christian companies before founding his own business, Longwood Communications, in 1992.

Leaving J.C. Penney in Detroit, where he was a sales and merchandising manager, Fisher joined Christian Life Publications in Wheaton, Ill., in 1963. He served as circulation director there until 1970.

Working in advertising for the next few years at the Russ Reid Advertising Agency and J.B. Lippincott in Philadelphia, Fisher became vice president of marketing at the Christian Herald Association in New York in 1978. He oversaw marketing for the association’s books, magazines and four book clubs.

A circulation consultant to Strang Communications’ Charisma magazine from the 1970s, Fisher joined the Lake Mary, Fla., company—which also publishes Christian Retailing magazine—full time in 1985. Through 1992 he was publisher of Strang’s Creation House book division—now the Strang Book Group, which includes Charisma House, FrontLine, Realms, Siloam and Casa Creación.

“Murray Fisher played a critical role in helping the circulation of Charisma grow when it was a very small magazine,” said Stephen Strang, owner of Christian Retailing and Strang Communications. “Years later I was so honored to have him full time on staff to head up Creation House. But Murray was more than a consultant or employee.

“He was a mentor and a friend,” Strang added. “He was always a godly man and will be long remembered and missed.”

At Longwood Communications, Fisher published novels and non-fiction and served as agent to several authors. Among the books he published were one for former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop and a nurse’s account of her service after the 2001 terrorist attacks in New York City.

Married for 56 years, Fisher is survived by his wife, Donna, three children and two grandsons. He was a founding member and elder at Vista Community Church in Orlando, Fla., where a memorial service was held Jan. 10.

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