Richard Grills at the 2016 RANZCO meeting

Richard Grills, the founder of Designs for Vision (DFV) and a well-known optometry and ophthalmology educator, on both sides of the Tasman, died on 12 July, a few days before his 79th birthday, following a long battle with respiratory issues.

A long-time friend and educational colleague of renowned Kiwi ophthalmology trainer, Associate Professor Gordon Sanderson, who died in 2017, Grills was named the inaugural winner of the Gordon Sanderson Award in 2018. The award was introduced by the Australian Save Sight Institute and Sydney University’s Department of Ophthalmology, where both A/Prof Sanderson and Grills taught, to recognise ophthalmology educators who made an outstanding contribution to teaching. On receiving the award, Grills told NZ Optics it was a great honour. “Gordon was an iconic teacher of ophthalmic optics who I have known as a colleague and a great friend for about 45 years. We had several fishing outings together, both in New Zealand and Australia, and of course a few jars on too many occasions to count.”

Grills began his career as a dispensing optician in 1960, rising to become Principal of the Guild of Dispensing Opticians’ Optical Dispensing Training Course and a lecturer in optics on Sydney University’s Masters in Visual Science course. He established DFV (now owned by Paragon Care) in 1978. A stalwart of the region’s wholesale ophthalmic community, he was chair of the Optical Distributors & Manufacturers’ Association (ODMA) for 10 years and remained an active director until his death. He was also a director of the Genetic Eye Foundation (GEF), the Macular Disease Foundation of Australia and the Bionic Eye Foundation. Demonstrating his entrepreneurial tendencies well into his seventies, he recently co-developed Permablate, a novel, cost-effective electrolysis tool for the permanent removal of eyelashes (more on this in next month’s NZ Optics).

Echoing the sentiments of many, Finola Carey, CEO of ODMA, said, "We do not know how we could ever possibly fill the void that he leaves in ODMA and the optical industry. We have lost a true champion of optics and an amazingly talented, humble, caring and creative human being."