After reading my blog, a man who convincingly identified himself as the victim’s nephew called me with thanks for my post on the hit-and-run accident that claimed his aunt’s life on the Upper West Side yesterday. He said he preferred not have his name published.
She was Margaret Fisher, a retired nurse originally from Nebraska., who was a graduate of Spencer/naper High School in Spencer, Neb., according to the nephew. Never married, she would have been a 1960 or 1965 graduate of the school.
Upon completing nursing school, she moved to New York City in the 1960s, according to the nephew. At the time of her death, I learned from a reporter who telephoned me to obtain the nephew’s contact information, she lived in her current apartment on the fourth floor of 127 W. 96th St.; that address is close to Whole Foods and within a short walk of three other supermarkets.
Ms. Fisher retired from her position as a head psychiatric nurse at Cornell Medical Center in the last few years, he said.
The nephew last saw her in June, and members of the family spoke to her on Thanksgiving, the day before she died.
The New York Post said Ms. Fisher was 67 and identified the driver of the Dodge Charger that killed her as Jessica Altruze, 24, who was charged with leaving the scene of an accident.
Witnesses were quoted in the New York Daily News as saying that the accident occurred around 3:15 p.m., when the victim was trying to cross 93rd Street and Columbus Avenue outside the pedestrian crosswalk. She was carrying groceries.
The vehicle that caused Ms. Fisher’s death was brought to a halt literally in front of my building at Amsterdam Avenue and 93rd St.
Noting that she had no relatives in New York, Fisher added that the family had little information and was relying on her close friends in Manhattan. Some of those friends were close enough for them to have traveled with Ms. Fisher on occasion, and the family was expecting to hear from at least one who was planning to enter the victim’s apartment today.
“What is so odd is that she was so independent,” Fisher remarked. As a result, the family knows little about any provisions she may have made concerning her passing, whether burial arrangements or a will.
A member of the United Methodist Church, Ms. Fisher was one of five children. She was the second youngest of them and is survived by four brothers.
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Malcolm Carter
Licensed Associate Real Estate Broker
Senior Vice President
Charles Rutenberg Realty
127 E. 56th Street
New York, NY 10022
M: 347-886-0248
F: 347-438-3201
Malcolm@ServiceYouCanTrust.com
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I, on Cambodia 
Margaret walked, walked, walked. I don’t recall her ever taking a taxi–even after she and I completed the Great Saunter!
How cruel she was taken away from us by one of the “machines” she avoided.
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Margaret was my neighbor at 127 west 96th st. She was a lovely person, so happy to be retired (she had been a nursing supervisor which couldn’t have been easy) and looking happier all the time. She swam, she was always out doing something. She loved the cookies I made for her each xmas and she was a wonderful neighbor–the kind you could leave plants, keys, whatever with.
I’ve known her for the ten years I’ve lived here, my neighbors who have known her longer are just in shock. What a terrible end for such a gentle, lovely person. She survived cancer, she ran marathons…and this is how her life ended? I hope the 24 yr old who sped away someday understands what she’s done. Idiot.
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My son in law is a nephew of Margaret Fisher. I have known the Fisher family since my daughter married into this family. I have 4 of the greatest grandkids anyone could ever have. I thank God for the Fisher family and hurt with and for them. I wish I could have known Margaret. I will be praying for the Lord to comfort them.
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Margaret Fisher was my dear friend.
Hers was not the sensational death reported by you, but the death of someone who led an exemplary life, and leaves many stunned mourners. What purpose do you have in blogging about her shocking death on your real estate website?
It would be respectful of you to delete your blog entry on her death. Thank you.
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I understand how upsetting Margaret Fisher’s death has been to you. It was, indeed, shocking, but a straightforward reporting of the facts doesn’t mean that I sensationalized her tragic passing. In fact, I believed, and continue to believe, that my posts have been a way of honoring her memory and condemning the way she died. That her nephew called, not once but twice, to thank me for writing about the accident does, I think, speak volumes. Please accept my heartfelt condolences on your loss.
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