Ophthalmic community mourns loss of George O. Waring III

George O. Waring III, MD, FACS, FRCOphth, a surgeon, innovator and mentor, died Jan. 27. He was 73 years old.

Waring, who most recently served as professor emeritus of ophthalmology at Emory University, Atlanta, specialized in cataract surgery, radial keratotomy and LASIK. He was board certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology.

He was born in Buffalo, N.Y., in 1941 and earned his medical degree at Baylor Medical College, Houston. His ophthalmology training included a residency at the Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia.

He started his academic career at the University of California, Davis, in 1974.

In 1992, Waring received a National Institutes of Health Fogarty International Scholars Award to do research in laser corneal surgery in Paris. From 1993 to 1995, he served as chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology and director of research at Al-Magrabi Eye Hospital in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where he helped develop LASIK.

Waring was a member of the American Ophthalmological Society, International Society of Refractive Surgery and International Intra-Ocular Implant Club. He also served on several national and international boards of directors.

Waring received National Institutes of Health grants to study radial keratotomy and excimer laser corneal surgery. His data led the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to approve excimer laser vision correction surgery in the U.S. As principal investigator of LASIK at Emory, he received the first physician-sponsored investigational device exemption from the FDA.

He was editor-in-chief of the Journal of Refractive Surgery from 1989 to 2010 and published more than 500 articles and two textbooks.

Waring received three American Academy of Ophthalmology Honor Awards and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Society of Refractive Surgery.

He spoke at ophthalmic conferences in more than 60 countries and made appearances on several network and cable television programs.

Waring was a founder and managing director of the privately owned Vision Correction Group (Emory Vision/InView Vision Center) from 1994 to 2004.

Waring is survived by four children, George O. IV, John Timothy, Joy Ailene and Matthew George.

Tributes to George O. Waring III:

George O. Waring III, MD, was a special man and an extraordinary colleague and friend. I first met George in 1978, 37 years ago while doing a Heed Fellowship in glaucoma at the University of Utah. He was a young visiting professor from the University of California, Davis, having completed a residency and cornea fellowship with Peter Laibson, MD, at Wills Eye Hospital a few years earlier. As I had previously completed a cornea fellowship at Minnesota, I was assigned to be his escort. After Friday lectures and grand rounds, which were superb, I spent 2 days introducing him to deep powder skiing at Snowbird and Alta, and learning from his already deep knowledge in cornea and external disease. This experience led to a lifelong friendship that carried us around the world, sharing one wonderful experience after another as we did our best to advance the art and science of cornea and refractive surgery and help educate our colleagues.

George was an excellent clinician, solid surgeon and disciplined scientist. He was at home amongst the most distinguished academicians worldwide, but easy to approach and readily accessible to the everyday clinician. He made unique contributions to the field, including founding an eye bank in Sacramento, serving as principal investigator in the landmark NEI-funded Prospective Evaluation of Radial Keratotomy (PERK) study, publishing the classical textbook on radial and astigmatic keratotomy, serving as a principal investigator in several excimer laser clinical trials, and for 21 years serving as the editor of the Journal of Refractive Surgery. A Waring Medal is given in his honor each year for the best publication by a young ophthalmologist in this journal, the official journal of the International Society of Refractive Surgery.

In an era of exploding knowledge in refractive corneal surgery, he served as a role model for a generation of young surgeons. He loved to travel and shared his knowledge in more than 50 countries. After his years at UC Davis, he was recruited to Emory University to join the faculty and advanced to a full professorship over a 15-year academic career before entering private practice in Atlanta, seeing patients until the last week of his life. Along the way he practiced for a few years in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, another chapter in a bucket full of adventures.

George was one of the most energetic and intellectually curious men I have ever met. He was an accomplished athlete, with advanced skills in skiing, kayaking and squash. He lived life fully, relishing the challenge of overcoming obstacles, and never, never, never quit on any project or person he cared about. He leaves behind four children, two who are physicians, including a dynamic young ophthalmologist carrying his name and legacy forward in ophthalmology for another generation. His friends number in the thousands, and every one of them can tell a special and personally meaningful story about an experience shared with George. He is a man whose friendship was cherished, and he will never be forgotten by any of us blessed enough to share in his life.

Richard L. Lindstrom, MD
OSN Chief Medical Editor

George was a very, very special friend. A mentor, a teacher, as we all know a fabulous writer, and he was always there when I needed him. My favorite memory was climbing over the fence with him at 5:30 in the morning to sneak into the ancient city of Petra in Jordan before it opened to the public. We climbed up to the temple on the top and watched the sun rise with just the two of us. Typical George adventure. We will miss him so much.

Daniel S. Durrie, MD
OSN Refractive Surgery Section Editor

When we launched the Journal of Refractive Surgery with Jim Salz as editor, George was an ardent supporter. He contributed important PERK study manuscripts to each of the first two issues to help establish the journal and later succeeded Jim as editor, serving passionately in that position for more than 21 years. George always pushed us, and himself, to do more and to make the journal better. We are deeply saddened to lose George but proud and happy to have had him as a friend of JRS and SLACK Incorporated all those years.

John C. Carter
Chief Operating Officer
The Wyanoke Group

George was one-of-a-kind in so many ways. We are proud to have created the Waring Medal together with him in 2007. It was a direct result of George’s staunch belief that great work should be acknowledged regardless of specialty affiliation. This is one of the many convictions that made George stand out among the greats.

Peter N. Slack
President/Chief Executive Officer
The Wyanoke Group

A brilliant figure in our field who has contributed so much to our understanding of the cornea and refractive surgery. I will miss his boundless optimism and energy, as well as his entertaining stories.

Terry Kim, MD
OSN Cornea/External Disease Board Member

While George had a major impact in ophthalmology, as a non-ophthalmologist, two other aspects stood out for me — one was his joie de vivre. He was great fun at a party, and many a time we danced and danced until the band went home. He was also a true friend. A few years ago when I was going through personal difficulties, he would call to counsel me and lend a sympathetic ear. I will always remember George warmly.

Jane Aguirre
Vice President, Global Alliances
American Academy of Ophthalmology

George made refractive surgery into an academic subspecialty. His 1,200 page tome “Refractive Keratotomy” will remain on my desk throughout my career. We will miss the clarity and incisiveness of his thought and his guidance in our mission.

Peter S. Hersh, MD, FACS
OSN Refractive Surgery Board Member

George was a true gentle giant — a surgeon scientist whose celebrated accomplishments could never be guessed by the humble way he carried himself. Besides his humor, I think I will miss most his voice, with its resonant rises and falls that made his presentation the highlight of every meeting and his personality so incredibly magnetic. God rest his gentle soul.

John A. Hovanesian, MD, FACS
OSN Cataract Surgery Section Editor

George was one of the brightest, cleverest, most vibrant and fun-loving leaders in all of medicine. When you spent time with George, you would be bent over in laughter, delighted and shocked and surprised, all at the same time. He was a spectacular teacher, researcher, surgeon, author, editor and opinion leader, with an opinion about almost everything, always complimentary. All of ophthalmology will miss this delightful man.

I. Howard Fine, MD
OSN Cataract Surgery Board Member

I first met George at Wills Eye when he was working with Jerry Shields on a presentation. I will never forget George drilling down on how a presentation was to be done, that there was never to be more than 11 words on a slide, and God forbid if you hadn’t memorized your talk, and never but never look at that screen while you were talking. Somehow, with all the people George knew, he always remembered my name and some detail about my life. Years later, I got to spend a few hours with George at the Nantucket Cornea Meeting, run at the time by Michael Raizman. We reminisced about the PERK study and how we had real science behind RK and an academic who would use numbers and results in place of fear and ignorance. George has deep roots in our country’s heritage and was on a mission to study his family’s origins and the Nantucket scion. As usual, he knew every relative, their occupation and position in Nantucket Society a century before! He was a truly engaging, caring person with a wonderful edge to his conversations, a wee glint in his eye as he brought up some obscure fact to spice up the exchange. He will be missed by us all, but I know he will be looking down on every one of my presentations, silently coaching me through a presentation he would be proud to be a part of!

Steven B. Siepser, MD, FACS
OSN Cataract Surgery Board Member

George was a true academician with a brilliant mind and a sharp wit. He made fundamental contributions to the field of refractive surgery. To best understand Dr. Waring, one should be in a conference room, discussing a complex cornea or refractive topic and turn him loose at the white board. George’s “chalk-talk” makes many of the most impressive PowerPoint presentations seem … well … unnecessary. Dr. Waring exuded positive energy in a way that I’ve witnessed in very few other individuals. People really loved George. He was intellectually honest and cared very much about his patients, friends and family. He will be greatly missed as a Professor Emeritus at Emory.

Timothy W. Olsen, MD
OSN Retina/Vitreous Board Member

George was a mentor to a whole generation of surgeons, and he truly advanced refractive surgery in so many ways. He will be dearly missed, but his myriad contributions and teachings will live on.

Uday Devgan, MD
OSN Healio.com/Ophthalmology Section Editor

I first met George 20+ years ago when we lectured together at a B+L Research Symposium in Toronto. George and I were paired (pro refractive surgery) to debate Brien Holden and another colleague (pro contact lenses). After about 30 minutes of lively debate, George took the podium and spoke for 5 minutes. He was evangelical. By the time he finished, you could hear a pin drop in a room of more than 800. He came back to his chair, sat down next to me, and said, “Mike, I could have argued that either way,” to which I said, “George, pass me the Kool-Aid.” I had the good fortune of seeing George occasionally through the years, but — from my perspective — never frequently enough. He’ll be missed by many.

Michael DePaolis, OD, FAAO
Primary Care Optometry News Editor