New Canaan’s highest elected official and others honored longtime resident Jim Lisher since his passing last week, calling him a humble and dedicated community volunteer whose impact is felt throughout town and beyond, especially for seniors.
First Selectman Dionna Carlson during Tuesday’s regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen noted that Lisher had a successful career in business and, afterwards, dedicated himself to the Health & Human Services Commission, where he served as chair for 10 years.
“He also served as chair of the Commission on Aging,” Carlson said during the meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference.
Jim Lisher
She continued: “He also chaired several studies for the Board of Selectmen on senior health and housing needs, which resulted in the New Canaan Optimal Living Community Plan. And as part of that plan, he helped create the iSTEP Telehealth program. And this program was recognized as a ‘Connecticut Livable Community’ best practice. And Jim was recognized with the Silver Source Fairfield County Innovation Award. In parallel to the telehealth program, Jim also served on a multi-state team securing funding for Connecticut low income seniors health program called TIPS. He was just an amazing contributor. So active and involved. Literally he had just resigned from the Health and Human Service Commission a month ago. So it’s a big loss for the community and our thoughts and prayers go out to Eleanor and their entire family as they mourn his passing.”
Lisher died Nov. 12. He was 87. A celebration of his life will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church.
Selectman Amy Murphy Carroll called Lisher “so humble,” noting that he served not just New Canaan but also the state.
“The amount of work he did for seniors, and also he’s very involved in a group, Community Resource Partners, which helps formerly incarcerated people, get back into society, which, you really need a lot of support there,” she said. “What a great guy.”
Selectman Steve Karl said Lisher was “one of those guys that he did so much for the community, but he did so much more that you didn’t know about, just quietly. And if you asked me, I would’ve said he’s like 77, 78 out playing tennis every day. Good guy, very active. And to find out he was 87 was a shock to me. Because he was one of the youngest 87-year-olds that I could ever think about. What an amazing human being.”
Members of the New Canaan Town Council also remembered Lisher during their organization meeting hours after he had passed, on Nov. 12. Councilman Penny Young, also a dedicated advocate for seniors, shared the news of Lisher’s passing, saying, “Jim has been very involved with Health & Human Services, particularly all of our aging related projects. I worked with him very closely in getting into the Commission on Aging ‘upstairs’—I’m going to say ‘upstairs,’ in Hartford. New Canaan, through a lot of his efforts, is regarded as a model aging community and the services that we provide. It’s an enormous loss for all.”
Council member Eric Thunem said he’s known Lisher and his wife, Eleanor Lisher, for nearly 30 years “as longtime devoted members of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church.”
“And this comes as quite a shock because for a man of his age, he was livelier than most people, 20 or 30 years younger,” Thunem said. “Above all, he was a public servant. He was a humble public servant, never put himself before the needs and concerns of others, and I think New Canaan will miss his model citizenship.”
Council member Kim Norton said that one of Lisher’s missions was “to make New Canaan an optimal senior community.”
“He wanted to bring new seniors into our community and get it recognized for all the services that we already have,” she said. “So I’d like to take that up hopefully with other people’s help to continue that mission because he was passionate about it. And he actually applied for the Charter Review Commission and he sent in all of his information, and I’m just really sad and want to send my deepest condolences out to his family and the rest of the community.”
When I was first elected, Jim reached out, and we met in Hartford with several officials from the Department of Health and Human Services about expanding telehealth. That was 2013 – well before Zoom or most were even thinking about telehealth. Jim was a true visionary. Jim’s efforts helped every resident of Connecticut to access healthcare. Jim was an influential proponent of Public Act 15-88, Connecticut’s first comprehensive law on telehealth, and has advocated for improvements every year since it passed. Jim was one of the finest men I have ever met. God bless Jim, his wife, Eleanor, daughter Lauren, son Erik, and their entire family and many friends. Jim will be missed.