Stanley Pearle, O.D.

Stanley Pearle, O.D., age 92, founder of Pearle Vision, died at his home in Dallas. Dr. Pearle founded Pearle Optical in 1961. In 1981, Pearle Vision began offering franchises—and 50 years and nearly 800 company and franchise stores later, Pearle Vision, is an American household name.

Also in 1981, Dr. Pearle established the Pearle Vision Foundation, now known as the OneSight Research Foundation, which invests in students pursuing a Doctor of Optometry degree, via the Dr. Stanley Pearle Scholarship Fund.

Newtown K. Welsey, O.D., M.D., Sc.D., Ph.D.

Contact lens pioneer Newton K. Wesley, O.D., M.D., Sc.D., Ph.D., age 93, died of congestive heart failure. As a clinician, lecturer, writer, educator and inventor, Dr. Wesley’s work included creating solutions for keratoconus, which led to his development and manufacturing of contact lenses.

He was the cofounder of Wesley-Jessen, and is often cited for inventing the first commercially successful rigid contact lens in the 1950s. Early in his career, Dr. Wesley helped get the Doctor of Optometry degree recognized nationally and later was instrumental in getting the words “contact lenses” into the dictionary.