Obituary: Robert Morrison, contact-lens pioneer and professor of optometry

Dr Morrison graduated from the Pennsylvania College of Optometry in 1948 and established practice in his hometown of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He became involved in fitting contact lenses early in his career.
In the 1950s, he published research showing that contact lenses (then available in rigid PMMA material) tended to slow down myopic creep in young wearers. His findings were noted in Time magazine, beginning a lifetime of high-profile media encounters.
In the early 1960s, he became aware of the work of Czech chists Otto Wichterle and Drahaslav Lim with the hydrophilic polymer HA. He traveled there to work with the Czech Acady of Sciences to apply that material in the development of a ‘soft’ contact lens. He became a co-patent holder in the Western Hisphere for the technology.
The patent was sold to Bausch + Lomb, which in 1971 launched the original Soflens and generated explosive growth in this burgeoning field.
He was an adjunct professor at Pennsylvania College of Optometry, New York Medical College and Hershey Medical School.
In addition, he founded and directed the ‘How-To’ International Contact Lens Conference, held in Atlantic City. The meeting brought together the three Os toward a greater understanding of clinical and practical issues in contact lenses.
Knighted at The United Nations by Prince Bernard of The Netherlands for his work in developing countries, he cared for high-profile patients while always quietly treating those in need.
A sought after lecturer, he was a professor at the Pennsylvania College of Optometry,In 1993, he launched Morr-Sight, a mobile clinic for providing free eyewear to deserving people around the world. The clinic was mounted on a bus and included an examination area, a fabrication area where pre-cut lenses were snapped into plastic frames, at a unit cost of about $1. In 1995, he founded eyeglass.com, an online retailer of eyewear.
His expertise in contact lenses brought an international clientele to his practice in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and also caught the attention of royal families throughout Europe, the Shah of Iran and celebrities such as Barbara Walters and Regis Philbin. It is said that one patient gave him a Rolls Royce car in gratitude for his services.
He was predeceased by his wife of 58 years, Ruth Rapoport Morrison, and is survived by a son, Jim Morrison, president of eyeglass.com, a daughter, Patty Morrison Schimberg, and five grandchildren.
New York Medical College and Pennsylvania State/Hershey Medical School.
He authored The Contact Lens Book and published numerous professional papers in the fields of optometry and ophthalmology.He was predeceased by his wife of 58 years, Ruth Rapoport Morrison and is survived by his children, Jim Morrison, Patty Morrison Schimberg and grandchildren.