Ruth White Fisher, daughter of Flora White, was born in Madison County, Ohio in 1894. A childhood victim of beriberi, Fisher developed an early interest in nutrition and earned a bachelor's degree in the subject from The Ohio State University in 1922. That same year, she married Robert Anderson Fisher, a professor of chemical engineering, and worked as a nutritionist until 1936, when the Fishers moved to Blacksburg, Virginia, where Robert Fisher had joined the faculty of Virginia Polytechnic Institute. Meanwhile, Ruth Fisher continued to study nutrition, earning a master's degree in dairy husbandry and home economics at Virginia Tech in 1940. Her thesis was entitled "The Influence of the Ration of the Cow on Vitamin C Content of Milk." The following year, Ruth Fisher temporarily left Blacksburg to be near her husband, who was on military leave elsewhere.

Later returning to Blacksburg, Ruth White Fisher became an active member of several Blacksburg clubs and organizations, including the Blacksburg Regional Art Association; Blacksburg Branch, American Association of University Women; Blacksburg Women's Club; Southside Garden Club; Blacksburg Council of Garden Clubs (of which she served as president in 1950); Blacksburg Community Federation; and the Daughters of the American Revolution. She served as an officer in many of these organizations and was also a member of Blacksburg Presbyterian Church.

Fisher maintained an interest in art throughout her life, studying art at the Columbus School of Art and privately with a number of Virginia Tech's professors of art. In addition to creating her own paintings, she promoted the works of others. With local painter Vance Miller, Fisher established the Palette Gallery, the first art gallery in southwestern Virginia.

In 1966, Fisher donated to Virginia Tech's Department of Chemical Engineering a set of five paintings--her own creations--entitled "The Evolution of Creativity."

Ruth White Fisher died in 1984 and was buried in Madison County, Ohio.