Stanley was born into a Jewish family in Mazabuka, Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia)
When he was 13, his family moved to Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe)
He became active in the Habonim Zionist youth movement
In 1960, he visited Israel as part of a winter program for youth leaders, and studied Hebrew at kibbutz Ma’agan Michael
He had originally planned to study at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
He went to the United Kingdom to study after receiving a scholarship from the London School of Economics, and obtained his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in economics from 1962–1966
Fischer then moved to the United States to study at MIT, and earned a Ph.D. in economics in 1969 with a thesis titled Essays on assets and contingent commodities written under the supervision of Franklin M. Fishe
He became an American citizen in 1976
He was appointed Governor of the Bank of Israel in January 2005 by the Israeli cabinet, after being recommended by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
American President Barack Obama nominated Fischer as vice chair of the Federal Reserve System, the United States’ central bank, in January 2014.