MUNCIE, Ind. - John W. Fisher, the retired Ball Corp. President and Chairman who led the packaging and home canning products company for more than 15 years, died Sunday. He was 93.

Fisher remained a prominent community leader in Muncie following his career with Ball Corp. that began in 1941. He became the company's president and CEO in 1970 and remained a top official until he stepped down as chairman in 1986.

Ball Corp. had its headquarters in Muncie for more than a century until moving to Broomfield, Colo., in 1998.

The five Ball brothers moved their business to Muncie in 1887 to take advantage of a Midwest boom in natural gas - necessary to make glass used in their well-known home canning jars.

Fisher, who had married into the Ball family, was chairman of the Ball Brothers Foundation, and Ball Memorial Hospital's heart center was named in his honor in January. The founding family's name also adorns Ball State University.