Peggy Fisher originally was a “Jersey girl.” She was born and raised in Westfield, N.J. — the fifth child in Bertha and Alvin Fisher’s brood of five girls and one boy. As a tomboy, her favorite activities were catching frogs and salamanders, climbing trees and beating up neighborhood boys.
Peggy’s father passed away when she was 10, and she took over the “men’s work” in the house such as mowing the lawn, shoveling snow and fixing things.
In high school, Peggy excelled in all women’s sports. After graduation, she attended East Stroudsburg State College. Later, she transferred to Kent State, which changed the direction her life and career would take.
After graduation, Peggy got married and took a job with Keen Transport in Hudson, Ohio. She left Keen Transport to join Roadway Express in 1977 as a supervisor in the Licensing and Registration Department and was lured into maintenance by the legendary Don Dawson, vice president of maintenance. In 1978, she took over responsibility for tire maintenance at Roadway. She was responsible for developing the tire and wheel maintenance program, training mechanics and tire technicians in the proper care and feeding of 190,000 tires and wheels, 28,000 trailers and 4,000 dollies.
In 1979, Dawson and Peggy joined The Maintenance Council, as it was then called. In 1981, Peggy became chairman of the S.2 Tire & Wheel Study Group, where she was instrumental in developing the Radial Tire Conditions Analysis Guide. For her efforts, she earned the inaugural Peggy J. Fisher Study Group Leadership Award in 1986, an award that still bears her name.
In 1988, Peggy was named president of the Roadway Tire Co., and general chairman of TMC. In 1996, she left Roadway Services and became a consultant to both the federal government and manufacturers of tires, retread rubber and equipment, wheels and tire pressure monitors. In 2006, she was named president of TireStamp, a provider of tire monitoring and asset management systems.
