SUMMER 2021
IN MEMORIAM: SUMMER 2021
1930s
1940s
1943
James David Miller (NICO), Cleveland Tenn., Feb. 7. He served in the U.S. Army Medical Corps in WWII. He worked at Chappel Hamrick for 17 years before owning a private practice for 50 years.
1945
Marilyn Heinke (NICO), Seymour, Wis., Feb. 1. She proudly began practicing in Manitowoc, Wis., the day before VJ Day in 1945. Seventeen years later, she opened a new practice in Seymour, Wis., helping thousands of children using vision therapy for 70 years. An accomplished public speaker, she knew Dale Carnegie personally and lectured on VT over 1000 times. In 2015, she was awarded OD of the Year from the Wisconsin Optometric Association.
1948
Harry Eugene (Gene) Horner (MCO), Buffalo Grove, Ill., Aug. 28, 2020. He served in the U.S. Navy during WWII as a Hospital Apprentice First Class SV6 at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station, often working in communicable disease quarantine situations. He practiced in Round Lake Beach, Ill., for 40 years. During retirement, he was a member of Seniors and Law Enforcement Together (SALT).
1949
James Elton Lanier (NICO), Orange, Texas, Oct. 5, 2020. He served in the U.S. Navy during WWII. He remained stateside, serving at stations in Calif. and Texas. He practiced optometry in Texas for 30 years, servicing TSO clinics in Orange, Port Arthur and Beaumont. He retired in 2005 due to the aftermath of Hurricane Rita.
Alvin Zohn (NICO), Perrysburg, Ohio, June 3. He was in the U.S. Army during WWII, serving as the chief cook for field artillery battalions in Europe. He opened his first practice in Point Place, Ohio, in 1950. He also served on the Board of VSP and the Toledo Eye Center. After more than 60 years in practice, he retired in 2011.
1950s
1950
Irving D. Fudemberg (CCO), Leawood, Kan., Aug. 22, 2020. He served in the U.S. Army during WWII, serving first in Europe and later in the Philippines. Later in life he was a the oldest member of the Kansas City chapter of Jewish War Veterans and the only WWII veteran. He retired from optometry at the age of 87, after practicing for over 50 years.
George Glaeser (NICO), Pinellas Park, Fla., Dec. 24, 2020. He served in the U.S. Navy during WWII.
Stanley Malashock (NICO), Omaha, Neb., Jan. 29. He opened his practice in 1950 in a dedicated space within his family’s jewelry store. Fifteen years later he changed the name to Malbar Vision, and the practice grew to a multi-doctor, five-location practice in the Omaha metro area. It became part of the AEG Vision group in 2017. He was an early innovator of franchising in optometry. In 1973 founded the Omaha-based International Contact Lens, which developed practices in seven states.
1951
Richard G. Blake (NICO), Fullerton, Calif., Oct. 2020.
William DeSart Grange (NICO), Papillion, Neb., Dec. 29, 2020. He served in the U.S. Navy during WWII, stationed in the South Pacific on the USS Curtiss for ten months in Okinawa, Japan and China. He practiced optometry for 45 years and was recognized by the Nebraska Optometric Association and the American Optometric Association for his dedication to the profession.
1953
Duane Wallaker (NICO), Northfield, Minn., Mar. 21. He served three years in the U.S. Navy during WWII. He practiced in Austin, Minn., for many decades.
1954
Frank E. Baldwin (NICO), Sun Prairie, Wis., Nov. 18, 2020. He served in the U.S. Navy in WWII. He started his lifelong private practice in Sun Prairie in 1955. He worked as a consultant for the Department of Public Instruction Bureau of Handicapped Children. He was named Wisconsin OD of the Year in 1986.
Frank "Chich" DeMarino (NICO), Bridgeport, W. Va., May 8. He was a U.S. Army veteran, having served with the Seventh Army at the 5th General Hospital in Stuttgart, Germany in the 1950s.
1957
Richard Charles Wolken, Columbia, Mo., Dec. 25, 2020. He moved to Columbia in 1961, where he was in private practice until his retirement. He was past president of the Missouri Optometric Association, the Missouri Optometric Foundation, and the Central Missouri Optometric Society.
1960s
1960
Donald Martin Borsand, Bloomfield Hills, Mich., Nov. 27, 2020. He opened a private practice in Michigan in the 1960's and became business partners with George Graham, OD '48, in 1974. By 1987, they expanded into a 14,000 square foot "Super Vision Center," which became one of the largest private optometric facilities in the U.S. They began franchising independent optometry practices, creating “First Optometry Eyecare." He retired in 2004 and sold First Optometry, now known as Henry Ford OptimEyes.
Walter Joseph Hey, Fish Creek, Wis., March 19. He served in the U.S. Army as a light weapons infantryman during the Korean Conflict with the 245th Tank Battalion in Chun Chon, Korea. He opened an optometric practice in Sturgeon Bay, Wis., where he practiced until his retirement in 2000.
1961
Col. Donald D. Dunton, Hartsville, S.C., Oct. 27, 2020. He served in the U.S. Air Force for 24 years. He was assigned Chief of Optometry under the Surgeon General, with command of over 225 military optometrists stationed in 114 locations around the world. He also served as President of the Armed Forces Optometric Society. He received numerous service medals and awards and is honored annually by the presentation of the USAF Col. Donald D. Dunton Ophthalmic Senior NCO of the Year award and the USAF Col. Donald D. Dunton Outstanding Civilian of the Year award. He retired from the Air Force in 1985 and embarked on his second career as a practicing optometrist in Hartsville.
John Kolesar, Fort Dodge, Iowa, April 10. He practiced in Fort Dodge for 44 years until his retirement in 2005.
1962
Robert G. Nesom, Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich., April 8. He served in the U.S. Army, as a medic stationed in Germany during the Korean War. He practiced in Grosse Pointe Woods for 40 years. He served as a volunteer providing optometric care at the Special Olympics in Mount Pleasant, Mich., and at the Optometric Institute and Clinic in Detroit.
1966
Edmund Arthur Schneider, Jr., Lincoln, Neb., May 2. He served two years in the U.S. Air Force, assigned to Goodfellow AFB in San Angelo, Texas. He opened Lincoln Vision Center, and for many years also practiced at Saunders County Clinic in Wahoo, Neb.
1970s
1972
Rod “R.D.” Schuller, LeMars, Iowa, Dec. 19, 2020. He joined the Gilfillan Medical Clinic in Bloomfield, Iowa, until moving to LeMars in 1980. He purchased the LeMars Optometric Center, where he practiced until his retirement in 2010.
1976
Joseph Sullivan, Wichita, Kan., April 23. He practiced for 45 years, specializing in vision therapy. He received the Kansas Optometric Association's Distinguished Service Award twice, for his role in the development of the See to Learn Program and for his work related to children's vision research.
1977
David L. Kjelland, Mineral Point, Wis., Dec. 21, 2020. He practiced with his father at the Kjelland Vision Clinic and created New Vision Ministries, a non-profit eye care organization which provided eye care to people in need in Honduras and Mexico. In 1996, he joined Davis Duehr Dean, where he continued to practice until his retirement.
John C. Engstrom, Villa Park, Ill., Jan. 11. He opened Rolling Meadows Eye Care in 1977, where he practiced for 43 years. He was a charter member of the AOA’s InfantSEE program.
1979
Jack Marx, Lone Star, Texas, Aug. 21. He practiced in Dallas and served as a Rotarian for 35 years.
1980s
1990s
2000s
2010s
2020s
Friends and Family
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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
