Remembering I. William Collins, OD ‘47, Dedicated PCO Supporter
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Remembering I. William Collins, OD ‘47, Dedicated PCO Supporter
I. William Collins, OD ’47, who, alongside his wife Suzanne, established the I. William Collins Contact Lens Science Award in 2021 to benefit students at the Pennsylvania College of Optometry (PCO), Drexel University, passed away on May 27, 2025, at his home in Sarasota, Florida. He was 98.
Dr. Collins started his own practice in 1958 in Pottstown. By the mid-1980s, he had become frustrated that commercial eyeglass companies were receiving discounts the smaller private practices couldn't get from manufacturers. So, he rallied 18 fellow optometrists to form The Source Buying Group, which grew into a thriving business that eventually would feature 800 members in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware.
Dr. Collins was a member of the American Optometric Association and was a Diplomate in the American Academy of Optometry’s Contact Lens Section.
He was an elected member of the then PCO Board of Trustees in 1992 and became a board trustee emeritus in 2015 of Salus University, which PCO established in 2008. He served the college as a visiting clinical instructor and associate professor of optometry. In 1997, he received the PCO’s Presidential Medal of Honor.
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