Ned S. Witkin, OD, FAAO
Director of Optometry and
Low Vision Services
Emory Eye Center from 1991 to 2004
Dr. Witkin died January 2004, following a two-year battle with pancreatic cancer. He is missed by his Emory colleagues and the many patients that he helped.
A dedication service for the Ned S. Witkin Vision Rehabilitation Clinic was held in April 2005.
The following appeared in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on February 1, 2004. It is reprinted with permission.
BYLINE: DERRICK HENRY
DATE: February 1, 2004
PUBLICATION: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The (GA)
TYPE: News Obituary Article
Dr. Ned Witkin helped the blind to see. As director of optometry at the Emory Eye Center since 1991 and the first optometrist at the Emory University School of Medicine, he offered hope to the legally blind.
"Ned gave people back their independence," said his wife, Beverly Witkin of Roswell. "So many times he brought vision back to visually impaired people who had been given up for blind and hopeless. He helped them to read and write and drive and work again. One woman came in whose eyesight was so bad she had never seen her children. Ned restored her vision so she could see them for the first time. She went on to complete a Ph.D."
"Dr. Witkin was a miracle worker", said community leader Mary Gellerstedt of Atlanta. "I was making a speech at the Carter Center and couldn't read my notes. I was horrified. Ned outfitted me with glasses with computer chips. Now I can read anything."
Whenever Dr. Witkin came up with new technologies, he liked to use Mrs. Gellerstedt as a guinea pig, she said. "He'd show me the prototypes and then would have me appear on TV interviews with him wearing these terribly unflattering glasses."
The doctor appeared nationally on such shows as ABC's "Good Morning America" and internationally on CNN. His clients came from as far away as Africa, South America and Saudi Arabia. He served as a consultant for Bausch & Lomb, United Parcel Service and the Jacksonville Expos baseball team. He helped establish satellite eye clinics for the Grady Memorial Hospital system.
Dr. Witkin, 47, died Thursday of pancreatic cancer at his Roswell residence. The funeral is at noon today at Roswell Funeral Home. Jewish Funeral Care is in charge of arrangements.
The New York native became fascinated with high-tech gadgets while watching James Bond movies as a child. He eventually helped create several cutting-edge devices himself.
The Jordy (Joint Optical Reflective Display), which Dr. Witkin co-developed, is worn like glasses and has a hand control that lets the wearer manipulate magnification and contrast through a computer chip in the headset. It can aid vision as poor as 20/400.
"Ned was a very inventive person who could look at a problem and find a way to get an optical answer to it," said Dr. Thomas M. Aaberg Sr. of Atlanta, chairman of Emory's department of ophthalmology.
In private life, too, Dr. Witkin kept up with the latest electronic gadgetry, from cameras to computers to HDTV. "He always drove a cool sports car, and you'd see him every Saturday at Best Buy," said his wife. "Not letting him go there would be like denying someone water."
Survivors also include a daughter, Sehra Witkin of Roswell; his parents, Mitzi and Hal Witkin of New York; a sister, Laura Speizman of Rego Park, N.Y.; and a brother, Bill Witkin of Brooklyn, N.Y.
©2004 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Reprinted with permission from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Further reproduction, retransmission or distribution of these materials without the prior written consent of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and any copyright holder identified in the material's copyright notice, is prohibited.
