The name of Complete is Fethi İsmail İsfendiyaroğlu. He was born in Istanbul in 1895. In 1914 he graduated from School-i Sultani and later from the Geography department of Darülfünun. After graduation he served in the elementary and then the middle sections of Mekteb-i Sultani where he taught lesson at İstanbul Sultanisi and Nişantaşı Sultanileri^【1】. He later served as a teacher of Turkish and French in the high school section of Galatasaray. In 1925 he became second director (müdür-i sani) and in 1928 he was appointed acting director of the high school. At the end of 1928 while serving as acting director, private telegrams exchanged between him and the then Minister of Education Mustafa Necati revealed his standing with the minister^【2】. In 1929 Fethi Bey was officially appointed director^【3】 and held this position until 1933 when he handed over his duties to Tevfik Ararat. During his directorship in 1930 Atatürk visited Galatasaray High School^【4】

Fethi İsfendiyaroğlu was member number 40 of the Galatasaray Sports Club^【5】 and in 1933 he was elected club president after Ali Haydar Barşal. At that time in Galatasaray two different factions were in conflict. One group advocated that the high school should be the primary source of athletes for the club while the other group led by Yusuf Ziya Öniş supported professionalization. The government under İsmet İnönü clearly supported Yusuf Ziya Öniş. Fethi Bey’s election as club president was intended to facilitate student integration into the club and ensure its use of the high school’s facilities^【6】. Although his tenure was brief Fethi İsfendiyaroğlu became the only person to hold both the directorship of Galatasaray High School and the presidency of Galatasaray Sports Club simultaneously and later handed over the presidency to Ali Haydar Barşal again. A significant factor in Fethi İsfendiyaroğlu’s assumption of this role was his personal friendship with Ali Sami Yen. Indeed Fethi İsfendiyaroğlu dedicated his History of Galatasaray, a four-volume work planned but only the first volume of which he published in 1952, to Ali Sami Yen who died in 1951^【7】

Fethi İsfendiyaroğlu was reappointed director in 1951 but his term in this position was short. Events that occurred during the funeral of former director Behçet Güçer undermined Fethi İsfendiyaroğlu’s authority and these events were brought before the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye^【8】.