SPRING 2020
IN MEMORIAM: SPRING 2020
1930s
1940s
1946
Alfred Klein (NICO), Spirit Lake, Iowa, Aug. 26. He enlisted in the medical corps. of the U.S. Naval Reserves during the Korean War, commissioned as Second Lieutenant. He practiced in Spirit Lake for over 50 years, with additional offices in Spencer and Estherville. He was the first optometrist in Dickinson County, beginning the pre-school eye exam program, which became the mode for Iowa and other states. He was also instrumental in the development of Siouxland Optical Lab in Sheldon and served on its board of directors.
1947
Ted Oberman (NICO), Bethesda, Md., Dec. 21. He practiced in Juneau, Alaska, serving as the president of the Alaska Board of Optometry, before moving to Washington, D.C., where he practiced at Group Health Association, retiring as Chief Optometrist in 1986.
1949
Harold Garmel (NICO), West Bloomfield, Mich., Sept. 11. He was a WWII veteran serving overseas. He was also a national hardball squash champion and played French horn in the Detroit All City Orchestra. Brandon D. Leetz (CCO), Madison, Wis., Oct. 5. He served in the U.S. Navy during WWII.
George McAlpin (NICO), Yuma, Ariz., Dec. 3. He graduated from Lawson General Hospital as a surgical technician and then served in the European Theater in WWII with the eighth Air Force. He also served at an England station hospital as a medical corpsman with a crash crew and received five battle stars. After he was discharged, he opened his optometric practice in Corning, Iowa, before being recalled to military service during the Korean War. He headed the eye clinic at the Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, station hospital and military prison as a First Lieutenant and served as a member of the military court martial board. When he finished his military service, he returned to his practice and retired after 45 years.
1950s
1950
Walter J. Gundlach (CCO), Hastings, Neb., Nov. 4. He served in the U.S. Army from 1943-46. He opened a practice in Hastings and then partnered with House of Optics for 15 years. Martin F. Liebrand (CCO), Vienna, Va., Nov. 23. He served in the Navy in WWII as a radioman. He practiced optometry until he was 80 years old.
1958
Charles A. Gray, Columbus, Neb., Nov. 26. He served in the U.S. Army from 1952-54. He practiced in Columbus until his retirement in 1999.
1960s
1961
Donald Garelick, Madison, Wis., Aug. 2. He served as a Corpsman/Medic in the Navy at the U.S. Naval Hospital in Great Lakes, Ill., during the Korean War. He practiced in Appleton, Wis., until his retirement in 1999.
1965
Jerry Ray Pederson, Greenwood Village, Colo., Dec. 16. He established his optometric practice in 1970 and retired in 2011.
1967
Joseph A. Viviano, Cedar Knolls, N.J., Nov. 14. He owned practices in Summit and Morristown, N.J. He was a Fellow in the American Academy of Optometry and a Fellow of the College of Optometrists in Vision Development. He was a retired Asst. Clinical Professor at SUNY College of Optometry, where he taught pediatrics and vision therapy.
1968
Thomas Smith IV, Wasilla, Alaska, Dec. 20. He practiced optometry in Fergus Falls, Minn., for 42 years and was co-founder of InVision Eye Care. He retired in 2011 and moved to Wasilla to be near his family.
1969
David A. Eberhardt, Glenwood Springs, Colo., Oct. 17. He served in the U.S. Army and was stationed at Fort Carson in Colorado Springs, Okinawa, Japan, and Fort Knox, Kentucky. While in Japan, he served as Chief of the Optometry Clinic and as Vision Safety Consultative to the Surgeon General of the U.S. Army Medical Center. He practiced optometry for 40 years in Roaring Fork Valley, Colorado.
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
2010s
2020s
2021
Thushanth Thanikasegaran, '21, Scarborough, Ont., March 4.
Friends and Family
Anthony Barone, Chicago, Ill., Feb. 17. A longtime ICO employee and front desk security officer, he was known as "the Godfather" and beloved by the entire ICO family. He was skilled at putting applicants at ease when they came for interviews and attended every student event he could, even after he retired. He is featured in the reverspective art piece currently displayed across from the President's Office.
Lee Wesley, Chicago, Ill., Nov. 28. He headed research at Wesley-Jessen, the Chicago-based company founded by his father, optometry pioneer Newton K. Wesley, OD, who was a former faculty member at ICO. Lee Wesley was instrumental in the development of a computerized method of fitting contact lenses and the company's first soft lens, which later became the DuraSoft lens. He later became president of the Dr. Newton K. Wesley Foundation.
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The following abbreviations denote predecessor names of the Illinois College of Optometry.
NICO: Northern Illinois College of Optometry
CCO: Chicago College of Optometry
MCO: Monroe College of Optometry
