Born: August 23rd, 1931
Died: May 2nd, 2026
Doris Fisher, who along with her husband Don founded the Gap retail empire in 1969 – remaking the apparel industry and helping to change the way Americans dress – has died in San Francisco. She was 94.
Starting with a store on Ocean Avenue in San Francisco that sold blue jeans and record albums, the Fishers built Gap Inc into a $16 billion global retail brand. They capitalised on the emergence of new style trends – in particular, the popularity of jeans, khakis, T-shirts and other casual items – and opened outlets in nearly every urban retail district and suburban shopping mall in the US, selling those goods at moderate prices.
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Fisher was the company’s fashion merchandiser for nearly 40 years and, as a corporate director, was active in the company’s remarkable growth. She and her husband considered themselves equal partners: he ran the business, while she focused on the merchandise. She also came up with the company’s name, a reference to the “generation gap” and the young consumers they hoped to attract. Don Fisher died in 2009.
Under Millard Drexler, whom The New York Times called the King of Retail, Gap expanded its brand with Baby Gap and Gap Kids stores and the acquisition of Banana Republic
The Fishers’ retail philosophy was to make shopping easy by keeping sizes well organised and stores well stocked, with pants and shirts piled high on shelves and tables, and dressingrooms abundant. When the company decided to manufacture its own line of clothing in 1972, Fisher was an essential voice in creating the style and look of the brand.
“My dad relied on her a lot for her sense of style and taste,” her eldest son, Robert J Fisher, a company director and former chair, said in an interview in 2015.
She was also, he said, the keeper of the company’s values: “She was the spiritual leader of our corporate social responsibility.”
He added that she had insisted that no ethical corners be cut. “From the start,” he said, “it was important to her that we treat everybody fairly.”
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A billionaire who eschewed an ostentatious lifestyle – she drove an older model Buick Roadmaster station wagon and often wore 10-year-old outfits – Fisher, like her husband, was an avid collector of modern art and was devoted to education reform.
The Fishers donated millions to Teach for United States and founded the Knowledge Is Power Program Foundation, which supports a network of public charter schools preparing students in underserved communities for college.
“She got more satisfaction sitting with schoolkids than anything else she did,” Robert Fisher said.
Under the Fishers, Gap grew quickly, and then slowed in the 1980s, as fashion tastes shifted. Bringing in retail guru Millard Drexler in 1983 reinvigorated the company and led to meteoric growth.
Under Drexler, whom The New York Times called the King of Retail, Gap expanded its brand with Baby Gap and Gap Kids stores and the acquisition of Banana Republic.
Drexler also created Old Navy, a less expensive retail outlet. Gap’s stock soared.
After 20 years, however, Drexler’s golden touch faded. Gap struggled, and a tempestuous relationship with Don Fisher led to Drexler’s departure in 2002. (Drexler cashed out his stake in Gap for about $350 million, according to The Wall Street Journal.)
Despite the company’s roller-coaster fortunes, Doris Fisher remained a steadfast presence as a director and, later, an honorary director.
Chip Adams, a venture capitalist and long-time family friend, said in an interview that she was closely involved with even rank-and-file employees. “She had strong, informed points of view about how to serve customers and how things ought to be done,” Adams said.
Doris Lee Feigenbaum was born on August 23rd, 1931, in San Francisco, to BJ and Dorothy (Bamberger) Feigenbaum. Her father was a prominent lawyer and a close friend of Earl Warren, who would later become the governor of California and chief justice of the United States.
The Doris and Donald Fisher Collection grew to include more than 1,100 works by 185 artists, and the Fishers eventually agreed to display their collection permanently at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
She attended the Katherine Delmar Burke School for girls in San Francisco and earned a degree in economics from Stanford University in 1953. (She would serve on Stanford’s board of trustees from 1992 to 2002.) Her family was close to her future husband’s family, and the couple knew each for years before marrying in July 1953.
She is survived by three sons, Robert Fisher, William S Fisher and John J Fisher; 10 grandchildren; and 13 great-grandchildren.
The Fishers were a fixture on San Francisco’s social and philanthropic scenes. “They are a family that made a real difference in San Francisco,” Charlotte Mailliard Shultz, a former city official and a long-time friend, said.
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When Gap went public in 1973, the Fishers used their newfound wealth to become art collectors. They had dabbled in acquiring prints to cover the white walls of Gap’s headquarters and stores, but now they had the means to buy paintings by eminences including Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Chuck Close and Ellsworth Kelly.
The Doris and Donald Fisher Collection grew to include more than 1,100 works by 185 artists, and the Fishers eventually agreed to display their collection permanently at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. (The Fishers donated $250 million toward the museum’s new building, which opened in 2016).
“They invested in new artists,” Mayo Shattuck, a friend and board member at Gap, said of the Fishers. “And the beauty of their collection was that they found these artists when they were young and alive.”
