Feature
Simmerman Family Legacy: Eyewitness to The Evolution of Optometry IT WAS THE ROARING TWENTIES of the last century and Harold Simmerman, OD ’30, FAAO, was taking the train from his home in New Jersey to College Park, Maryland, and the University of Maryland, to study biology. When the train stopped in Delaware to pick up more passengers, Sydney Smith, OD ’30, got on, also on his way to the University of Maryland. The two struck up a conversation, discovered they were both attending the same college, and became friends. During one of those subsequent train rides to Maryland, Dr. Smith told Dr. Simmerman there was a new profes-
12
SALUS UNIVERSITY ALUMNI MAGAZINE
sion emerging called optometry, and students could be trained at the Pennsylvania State College of Optometry (PSCO) in Philadelphia. That conversation became the initial seed for what would become three generations of the Simmerman family of optometrists trained at PSCO, later renamed the Pennsylvania College of Optometry (PCO), that spanned nearly the entire evolution of the profession of optometry. The lifelong friends would go on to PCO under the tutelage of the school’s founder, Dr. Albert Fitch. After graduating from PSCO, Dr.
Simmerman opened a private practice in New Jersey. To supplement his income while his practice was growing, he accepted an offer from Dr. Fitch to teach ocular pathology, which he would do for the next 38 years, finishing out his tenure as acting dean of PCO from 1969-1970. Dr. Simmerman, known as “Simmy” by colleagues and friends, loved teaching, and his interest in education expanded beyond PCO. He was elected to his local school board in New Jersey and served in that capacity for nearly 40 years, at one time the longest-serving school board member in the state. Between his private practice and his teaching, Dr. Simmerman was quite busy. He’d teach during the day, have office hours three nights a week and sometimes make house calls on the weekend. He even found time to play golf, do some stargazing and be involved in the Rotary Club. Dr. Simmerman’s two sons, H. Martin “Marty” Simmerman, OD ’62, FAAO, and Steven Simmerman, OD ’65, FAAO, would follow him not only to PCO but also into the family business. When Steven Simmerman was a boy, he recalls some of the house calls his father would make, adjusting glasses for those who couldn’t make it into
