Janice Kenik Fisher, loving mother, grandmother, wife, and aunt passed away peacefully in her home on Sunday, November 28, 2021, at the age of 95.
A pioneer in her field of Social Work, she was one of few women in the United States who earned a Masters’ degree in 1950. She was a gifted therapist who helped thousands of people in need. She was ahead of her time, a professional raising a family of five children with the love of her life. Her husband, Dr. Irving D. Fisher, passed away in 2010. She loved and lived the life she dreamed and did so as she touted, “with no regrets.” Janice was a family icon, the last of her generation, and brought to bear on everyone who met her, warmth, generosity, kindness, insight, wit, and curiosity. She is survived by her five children and nine grandchildren; her sons, Nathaniel, Mark, and Dan; her daughters, Elizabeth Fisher Turesky and Claire Fisher and, their spouses Diane Wells, Beth Chin Fisher, David Turesky, and Emory Determeyer; and her grandchildren; Ted, Jake, Marisa, Lydia, Karl, Anna, Beryl, Wynn, and Isabelle.
Janice was born in Kingston, New York in 1925 to Morris Kenik and Mary Berkowitz Kenik, both of whom were immigrants from Bialystok, then part of Russia. Janice lived with her husband and five children in Queens and then Woodmere, Long Island, New York for twelve years before moving the family to Brunswick, Maine in 1967, where she supported her husband’s tenure at Bowdoin College and later the University of Southern Maine.
Janice earned her BA in Childhood Education from SUNY New Paltz College in 1945: She then moved to New Haven, where she taught at a nursery school. Soon thereafter, she attended Columbia University’s graduate program in early childhood education. She was soon inspired and encouraged to attend the School of Social Work at Smith College, graduating in 1950. After taking time off from her profession to raise five children, Janice reentered the professional world in 1963 as a Psychiatric Social Worker in New York and continued her work in Maine at Family Counseling Services (later known as Community Counseling Center) in Portland. She retired in 1985.
Janice loved to travel and to spend time with her husband of 62 years, in Provence, France, and the countryside of England. She loved classical music, dance, art, and especially great restaurants.
Friends and loved ones remember Janice for her wisdom, graciousness, and warmth, and her love of good food. She was a role model for balancing professional and family life. However, the role of motherhood brought her the greatest joy. Janice is buried alongside her devoted husband and partner in life at the Veterans Cemetery in Augusta.
Donations may be made in Janice’s memory to
the Good Shepherd Food Bank of Maine at https://www.gsfb.org/
and The Southern Poverty Law Center https://www.splcenter.org/
Zichrona l’vracha – may Janice’s memory be for a blessing.