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Henry W Hofstetter was born in Windsor Mills, Ohio on September
10, 1914, to immigrant parents, Kaspar Hofstetter from Switzerland, and Augusta
Kresin Hofstetter from Germany. The eighth of eleven children raised on a farm
near Huntsburg, Ohio, he attended Western Reserve University, Kent State
University, and The Ohio State University. He obtained his B.S. in Optometry as
well as his M.S. and PhD from Ohio State, and it was there that he met Frances
Jane Elder, whom he married on July 5, 1941.
After two years at
Western Reserve, and needing to earn money for his education, Hofstetter got a
job teaching all eight grades in a one-room school, with extra pay for janitor
duties. It was there that he discovered the importance of student interaction,
and the need to keep education personal. With only a few students in each
grade, they had to help each other, reinforcing individual skills and sense of
responsibility. He lived with an older sister and her husband, a jeweler in
Middlefield, Ohio, and it was they who encouraged him to look into Optometry.
His PhD in Physiological Optics was the first such granted in the United States.
He began his
university career at Ohio State, where he taught almost all professional courses
as the result of faculty shortages during WWII. In 1948 he was offered the
position of Dean of the Los Angeles College of Optometry (now Southern
California College of Optometry). Given his background in optometry curriculum
development, he was invited in 1952 to Indiana University, to direct the new
Optometry program established as a division within the College of Arts and
Sciences. Under his guidance, the program expanded in 1955 to include the PhD
degree. In 1975 the division officially became the School of Optometry.
He was known by
optometrists worldwide, as a result of his interest in international Optometry,
and his focus on optometric practice and education throughout much of the
world. In 1991 he was recognized as the International Optometrist of the Year
by the International Optometric and Optical League, for his “profound influence
upon the visual welfare of mankind“. In April 1999, at an international
symposium held in his honor at IU, he received the Distinguished Service Award
from the World Council of Optometry.
Hofstetter himself
considered his most significant achievement to have been his influence on
optometric curriculum, where he introduced much of his own personal philosophy
into courses, including cultural and broad-based scientific background rather
than a purely clinical approach.
He authored four
textbooks and over 500 papers, and co-authored the Dictionary of Visual Science
and Related Clinical Terms, including the 5th Edition published in
2000. He is a Past President of the Association of Schools and Colleges of
Optometry, the Optometric Historical Society, and the American Optometric
Association. He has received five honorary doctorates, the Prentice medal, the
Apollo Award, the AOA Distinguished Service Award, the Indiana Optometric
Association’s Distinguished Service Award, and the Orion Award, the highest
award of the Armed Forces Optometric Society. One of his most cherished honors
was his appointment in 1974 to the distinguished rank of Rudy Professor of
Optometry at IU. He served on the Bloomington Hospital Board for six years, was
a member of Rotary International for more than 40 years, and Past President of
the Bloomington Rotary Club.
Dr. Hofstetter was
preceded in death by his beloved wife, Jane. He is survived by his daughter Ann
Delaney of San Francisco; his daughter Susan Mohme and her husband Bill, of
Slidell, LA; two grandchildren, Katherine Delaney and Christopher Mohme; his
brothers Carl and Edwin Hofstetter, and sisters Edna Savoy and Edith Conway.
Memorial
contributions may be made to the Indiana University Foundation, the American
Optometric Foundation, the Optometric Historical Society, the Bloomington Rotary
Foundation, or the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation.
Photo credit: Jerry Mitchell / IU News Bureau
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