John W. Streff, OD, DOS passed away on May 6, 2010 from cancer. He was 83. A 1951 graduate from the Chicago College of Optometry, John joined the staff of the Gesell Institute of Child Development in 1960 after practicing in Minnesota for several years during which time he served an externship at Gesell. While at the Institute he worked closely with Dr. Richard Apell, Associate Director of Gesell.
In 1975 John joined the faculty of the Southern College of Optometry in Memphis, TN as Professor of Professor of Pediatric Optometry. He was appointed Director of Optometry when the Skeffington/Alexander National Optometry & Education Learning Research Center (sa NOEL) opened in 1979. Following the closing of the NOEL Center, he reentered private practice in Lancaster, Ohio with his son Dean.
Dr. Streff was retired and living in Arizona at the time of his death, but remained active on the lecture circuit and continued his prolific writing until shortly before his passing. His more recent book, Childhood Learning Journey or Race?, A Parents and Teachers Guide with Ellen Gundersen, MEd, has proven quite popular among those audiences. John wrote a Foreword to the 1976 OEP edition of Gesell’s classic, “Vision: Its Development in Infant and Child,”
Tributes to John Streff
The early years of NORA were very new and exciting. Before there were even conferences, there were meetings where "dreams" began to take the form of reality. Dreams must, however, always come back down to Earth and it is the more experienced voice that grounds these ideas. This was where John Streff fit in. He knew what it was like to be a pioneer and what it was like to be at the forefront of new thinking. Whenever lofty ideas got out of control, John was the voice of reason and experience.
I also recall that he was greatly concerned that our membership understand the true effects and optics behind the application of prisms. He emphasized that the base of the prism had the effect of a plus lens and the expansion of space and that these spatial changes had to be understood in the context of what was occuring with the overall lens power. No one knew more about the "power" of lenses and prisms than John Streff.
Vince Vicci
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Dr. Streff was a founding member of NORA. He began his career serving children with visual and developmental learning related difficulties. As Director of Vision Research at Gesell Institute of Child Development in New Haven CT, John explored visual/developmental dysfunctions that became the hallmark of his work. His studies enabled him to discover the Non-Malingering Syndrome.
John was a sought after lecturer. His style of lecturing was as unique as the way in which he worked with children. He perfected a problem-solving approach to teaching causing the participants to work with him to grasp the solution to the vision dysfunction. With children, John incorporated a problem-solving approach to involve the child through vision and perception. While he was an expert in understanding the science behind lenses and their affect on vision, the art that he applied to the treatment with lenses was a wonder to behold.
John is survived by his wife Marlys, five sons, daughter-in-laws and grandchildren. He will be remembered for his caring manner and his continual devotion to his family and his career. We will miss him.
John W. Streff, OD, DOS passed away on May 6, 2010 from cancer. He was 83. A 1951 graduate from the Chicago College of Optometry, John joined the staff of the Gesell Institute of Child Development in 1960 after practicing in Minnesota for several years during which time he served an externship at Gesell. While at the Institute he worked closely with Dr. Richard Apell, Associate Director of Gesell.