Optometry school leader dies

The IU School of Optometry lost one of its first members over winter break. \nMerrill J. Allen, who co-founded the school in 1952 and also held patents for a number of inventions, died Dec. 28 at 85.\nAllen's research focused on visual training and therapy and is credited with inventing more highly-placed brake lights and daytime headlights on cars. He wrote extensively on vision and highway safety, publishing more than 236 research papers and two textbooks.\nIU Professor of Optometry Dr. David A. Goss met Allen as a graduate student in 1976 and again when he joined the faculty in 1992. Goss said Allen was constantly developing new ideas and inventions. \n"He was a real gadgeteer, you might say," Goss said. "He made a lot of gadgets mostly for use in vision training or vision therapy, to encourage the use of the two eyes together. He was a very hard worker. He'd be at school all day and if you ever went back in evening he was there then too."\nGoss said Allen's impact on the field of optometry at IU is significant. \n"He would have taught hundreds of optometrists," Goss said. "I know a lot of people saw him as inspiration to enter the field."\nOne of those people is Dr. Mary Van Hoy, who now works at the Indiana Vision Improvement Center in Indianapolis after meeting Allen as a student in 1968. Van Hoy said she remembers most Allen's enthusiasm for his work and the people he taught. \n"He was very dedicated to students, very personable, not distant at all," Van Hoy said. "I think he's kind of an icon. He won every award there was in optometry and was dedicated to the profession. And not just in the books, he was a real people person."\nAllen, who was born in San Antonio, Tex., went to school at Ohio State and later worked for the National Research Council in World War II. During his career, he received the Apollo Award from the American Optometric Association's in 1973, the highest honor in optometry, Goss said.\nMerrill Allen's son, Jim Allen, said he is reminded of his father's contributions in everyday life.\n"Every time you see a headlight on in the daytime on a vehicle, that is the result of research Dad did," he said. "And every time you come up to a railroad crossing and notice how bright red the lights are, that is the result of his research."\nSteven Hitzeman, director of clinics at the IU School of Optometry, worked beside Allen as a student in the mid- 70s. Hitzeman said his fondest memory was he and Allen working together to help a visually impaired child in one of their projects. \n"He was a classic academic," Hitzeman said. "He would immerse himself in a project. I wouldn't call him absent-minded, but he was sometimes so engrossed in a project he would forget basic things that he would need, like going to dinner or a faculty meeting. \n"But it was because his mind was so active. He was always trying to invent something or make things better," he said. "He was a special person. He gave everything he could to everything he was doing."\nMemorial contributions can be made in Allen's name to the Alzheimer's Association of Greater Indiana in Indianapolis or the Hospice of Bloomington. \n-- The Associated Press contributed to this report. Contact campus editor Gavin Lesnick at glesnick@indiana.edu.