NSUCO - The Visionary Spring 2012

Stanley Crossman, O.D., who was an NSUCO faculty member for 11 years, passed away on December 2, 2011, at the age of 85 in Hollywood, Florida. A native of Pennsylvania, Dr. Crossman graduated from the Philadelphia College of Osteo- pathic Medicine in 1948 and maintained a solo practice for 30 years in the Philadel- phia area. Dr. Crossman felt he had reached a turning point in his life when, in 1965, he made the decision to participate in a certification program called Vision in the School-Aged Child from the Gesell In- stitute of Child Development in Connecticut. The certificate he earned from that year of inspiration hung lovingly on the wall above his desk as a constant reminder of his personal beliefs and approach toward the field of optometry. Early on, he recognized the relationship between learning and vi- sion when his young patients began excelling in school after train- ing sessions. As a hospital staff optometrist in the 1960s and 1970s—a time when such a position was unheard of elsewhere— Dr. Crossman was conducting VT-based techniques he had made a great effort to learn. He stated that “Learning is a process. If you take it seriously and have the passion to continue it beyond school, you will become a better optometrist and a better person.” In ad- dition to his service at NSUCO, he taught at Pennsylvania College of Optometry, the Inter-American University of Puerto Rico School of Optometry, and The Verona, Italy, College of Optometry. During his 11 years at NSUCO, he taught courses in anomalies of binocular vision, vision development, learning disabilities, and pe- diatrics and helped create the binocular vision clinic specialty sec- tion. Dr. Crossman brought a truly unique perspective to the college and made considerable contributions to the development of op- tometry as it is practiced today. THE V ISIONARY • S PRING 2012 — 12 “Stan was part of the very robust northeast behavioral vision community during his time in Philadelphia. Fol- lowing his retirement from Nova Southeastern Univer- sity, he continued to lecture internationally until recently. He very much enjoyed private practice and the dynamic and exciting times of sharing with the pioneers of be- havioral optometry: John Streff, Dick Apell, “Skeff” Skeffington, Al Sutton, Bruce Wolff, Elliot Forrest, Stan Levine, Ellis Edelman, Bob Kraskin, Amiel Francke, Baxter Swartwout, and many, many more. When circumstances led him to teaching, he took this up with enthusiasm, but also with love of the profession and his students. By the time I met Stan, love was his defining force. He was enthusiastic about the power of optome- try to provide insight and to help others enhance their lives, remove restrictions on thinking and action, and be- come more competent, connected, and vital. He was en- thusiastic about the support and connection that good diet and regular exercise can provide. One could say he loved these things. But most of all, he loved people. This love for people was no abstract thing for Stan. It was individual. When he asked how you were, it was not an idle question. Certainly he had a great love for his son, his daughter, his granddaughter, and his family. But if you were in front of him, he had a great love for you. He looked after me personally, always asking how things were going, how I was feeling, whether I needed any- thing, how my family—each by name—was doing, and how mutual friends were. The conversation would be largely about you, unless he had some personal story he felt might be helpful. My strong impression from talking to others is that this was his natural and unaffected modus operandi; he really cared. For me, being with Stan was something indescribably wonderful, like being warmed by the sun. I’m pretty sure Stan carried this into his teaching. There must have been frustrations as the behavioral optometry he so cared for became less and less of interest to many students, but I doubt this ever reduced his love for those he was teaching. I do know that I have met many of Stan’s students and have heard many good things about him. I would guess this, in addition to his obvious astuteness, is why he was sought as an international speaker. I know he had been asked to speak in Italy shortly before his passing and would have gone had his stamina permitted. His stamina was about the only thing that changed in Stan’s last year. He still kept up the love and talked en- thusiastically about diet, the ocean, exercise, and peo- ple. And still one did not hear much about him, except that he was fine. A few months before Stan’s passing, I visited him in the hospital—a very foreign place for Stan. He told me about the lovely people he’d met there and joked around a little. He asked about me and spent time counseling me until he literally could no longer con- tinue. He was weak, but happy, content, peaceful, and loving. That was, and is, Stan.” ...Walter J. Chao, O.D. In Memoriam: Recollections of Dr. Stanley Crossman Individual Recollections... by Nathaniel King, B.A., Co-Editor, The Visionary