All Obituary articles – Page 3

  • News briefs

    Michael Jaggs has died at the age of 77. The...

    2015-02-27T00:00:00Z

    Michael Jaggs has died at the age of 77. The contact lens pioneer started his career in optics with Leighton's Opticians in 1954. After qualifying as a dispensing optician, he ran a branch for the company, and then studied optometry at Northampton College, four years later. He started his own ...

  • News briefs

    Josef Reiner, a well-known German ophthalmologist who collected more than...

    2015-01-23T00:00:00Z

    Josef Reiner, a well-known German ophthalmologist who collected more than 30 patents during his career, has died at the age of 93. Born in Romania, he started teaching ophthalmic optics in Jena in 1947. Ten years later he became the director of a new school in Cologne, HFAK, which was ...

  • News briefs

    Wilhelm Anger, the founder of Optyl and Carrera, has passed...

    2015-01-23T00:00:00Z

    Wilhelm Anger, the founder of Optyl and Carrera, has passed away at the age of 88. Anger was a pioneer in the eyewear sector through his early involvement in the licensing of fashion designers and his technical achievements.  After World War II, he went door-to-door selling welding equipment to manufacturers ...

  • News briefs

    Robert J. Morrison, the American who helped invent the first...

    2015-01-23T00:00:00Z

    Robert J. Morrison, the American who helped invent the first soft contact lens in the 1960s, has passed away at the age of 90. He based his work on material technologies developed in the Czech Republic. The related patent was bought by Bausch+Lomb and used for the launch of the ...

  • News briefs

    Francis Jean, founder and president of Iris The Visual Group,...

    2014-08-21T00:00:00Z

    Francis Jean, founder and president of Iris The Visual Group, the leading Canadian optical retailing group, died while riding a bicycle in the Iris Challenge, an event organized by the company to raise money for cancer research. He was 56 years old. Together with other optometrists, Jean founded the Iris ...

  • News briefs

    David Challinor, who was news editor of Optician for 10...

    2014-06-06T00:00:00Z

    David Challinor, who was news editor of Optician for 10 years and a former editor of Optometry Today, died of a heart attack on May 29 at the age of 50. After studying English and media at Bournemouth University in the U.K., he worked for five years at the publisher ...

  • News briefs

    CORRECTION: Oliver Goldsmith Spectacles is not changing the distribution of...

    2014-02-28T00:00:00Z

    CORRECTION: Oliver Goldsmith Spectacles is not changing the distribution of its products in Europe, as reported in our last issue. It's Oliver Godsmith Sunglasses, the British company run by Oliver Goldsmith's niece Claire, that is selling directly to the opticians.

  • News briefs

    Silhouette International is mourning the loss of its co-founder, Arnold...

    2014-02-28T00:00:00Z

    Silhouette International is mourning the loss of its co-founder, Arnold Schmied, Sr., who passed away on Jan. 31 following a long illness. He was 89. Schmied and his wife, Anneliese, founded the company in 1964 with the objective of turning what were once considered medical, visual aids into fashion accessories. ...

  • News briefs

    Joseph Hatchiguian, the founder and chief executive of Sporoptic Pouilloux...

    2012-10-03T00:00:00Z

    Joseph Hatchiguian, the founder and chief executive of Sporoptic Pouilloux from 1957 to the end of 2009, when it was sold to Alain Mikli International, passed away last July 25 at the age of 78. In 1966, he created the brand of sunglasses, Vuarnet, named after French skiing Olympic champion ...

  • News briefs

    Cari Zalloni, the creator of Cazal Eyewear, died at the...

    2012-07-31T00:00:00Z

    Cari Zalloni, the creator of Cazal Eyewear, died at the age of 74 on July 3, following heart surgery. Cazal was born in 1975 and appealed then to inner-city youths, who liked the bold, gold-trimmed design. Its appeal expanded over the years and Cazal Eyewear has been seen on such ...

  • News briefs

    Bob Smith, the founder of Smith Optics who invented the...

    2012-05-25T00:00:00Z

    Bob Smith, the founder of Smith Optics who invented the modern double-lens, anti-fogging ski goggle, died last month at the age of 78. A former orthodontist, he developed the goggle in the 1960s because as an avid skier, he was constantly frustrated with fogged-up goggles. He founded the company in ...

  • News briefs

    The Insight magazine reported the death last Nov. 6 of...

    2012-01-25T00:00:00Z

    The Insight magazine reported the death last Nov. 6 of Michael McInerney at the age of 53, after an 18-month battle with cancer. He spent the last eight years with Younger Optics Australia and became its managing director last July.

  • News briefs

    Elbert E. (Jody) Stone Jr., 65, died of a heart...

    2011-12-19T00:00:00Z

    Elbert E. (Jody) Stone Jr., 65, died of a heart attack on Oct. 26, VMail reports. He was a journalist and the editor of several optical trade publications. For seven years in the 1980s he was lead editorial executive at Jobson Publishing. He was the founding editor in chief of ...

  • News briefs

    Derek McLaren, former managing director of Grafton Optical and Silhouette...

    2011-09-28T00:00:00Z

    Derek McLaren, former managing director of Grafton Optical and Silhouette UK, passed away last month after a long illness. A well-known member of the British eyewear industry, he acted as a trustee of the Eyecare Trust and as chairman of the Optical Frame Importers Association within the U.K. Federation of ...

  • News briefs

    Robert A. Amato, former president of Jobson Publishing/Jobson Medical Information,...

    2011-09-28T00:00:00Z

    Robert A. Amato, former president of Jobson Publishing/Jobson Medical Information, died on Sept. 19 at the age of 80. His family said he had a stroke and lapsed into a coma, and never recovered. Amato started his publishing career with General Binding Corporation, then took a sales position at ...

  • News briefs

    Derek McLaren, a dispensing optician who was a managing director...

    2011-08-30T00:00:00Z

    Derek McLaren, a dispensing optician who was a managing director for Silhouette and Grafton in the U.K., has died. He was also a trustee of the board of the Eyecare Trust and worked with the Federation of Manufacturing Opticians.

  • News briefs

    Jesse W. Devlyn, 71, has passed away. He was executive...

    2011-08-30T00:00:00Z

    Jesse W. Devlyn, 71, has passed away. He was executive vice president and a major shareholder of the Devlyn Optical Group. Based in Mexico, it is the leading optical retail company in Latin America, with over 920 stores in Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and the U.S.

  • News briefs

    Peter Bateman, the former chairman and managing director of the...

    2011-07-28T00:00:00Z

    Peter Bateman, the former chairman and managing director of the GC Bateman group, has died from cancer at the age of 82. He was a past chairman of the Society of Opticians and Optical Information Council, and joined the family business in 1957. He also helped establish the Federation of ...

  • News briefs

    Newton K. Wesley, 93, an optometrist who suffered from keratoconus,...

    2011-07-28T00:00:00Z

    Newton K. Wesley, 93, an optometrist who suffered from keratoconus, died on July 21 from congestive heart failure. Wesley was told at a young age that his vision problems would eventually worsen and he would become blind. His vision was improved by large glass contact lenses, but they were too ...

  • News briefs

    Olaf Göttgens, who worked for one year as chief executive...

    2011-06-29T00:00:00Z

    Olaf Göttgens, who worked for one year as chief executive officer of Rodenstock from the end of 2009, died at 45 years of age from a heart attack at the beginning of June. His departure from the German company reportedly followed the failure of Rodenstock's takeover by the luxury goods ...