But now the 77-year-old is fighting another battle – problems he says he is having with another tenant in the social housing complex he lives in.
Mr Fisher had his car tyre slashed recently.
He blames the other tenant, who denies any involvement.
“I rely on my car to go and get medication and groceries for my wife. It made me feel bloody sick to know that this could happen to us.”
Mr Fisher, a former Canterbury and Kiwis rugby league front-row forward in the 1960s, contacted the police.
Police told him they were not able to proceed further because there wasn’t evidence to determine who might have done it.
“I find it quite concerning the police did not even come to view the damage.
"As a law-abiding citizen I found that quite hard, it upset me more than the slashed tyre,” he said.
Mr Fisher spends his days caring for his wife Marie in their unit at the Maurice Carter Courts complex in Spreydon. She has had eight strokes over the past five years.
The conflict with the other tenant began in 2017 over what Mr Fisher said was loud music.
“I knocked on the door and said listen, mate, turn your music down, I have a sick wife,” he said.
But the other tenant says Mr Fisher is the problem, not him.
“He can accuse me all he wants but I did not do it,” he said.
“If someone upsets me, I deal with it face to face, I don’t go around vandalising property.”
The Fishers were well known in the hospitality industry in Christchurch, owning the Coffee Pot, The Paul Revere restaurant and Cokers Hotel.
A share market crash had cost them dearly.
The Otautahi Community Housing Trust leases and manages the Maurice Carter Courts. Its chief executive Cate Kearney said: “We did receive a noise complaint in September 2017 from the tenant.
“The person responsible was spoken to at the time and there have been no noise complaints received since.
"If there are other incidents, we are happy to follow up.”
