On December 24, 2006, Dr. "Gus" Forkiotus passed on after a struggle with vascular problems that had challenged his health over the past few years. For those who knew "Gus", challenges were not new to him, nor did he ever back down from one. Dr. Forkiotus was a "thinker". He never accepted something just because it was written in a book or because everyone else accepted it.
"Gus" was one of the founding members of NORA. He was one of the original team of doctors who met at the Knickerbocker Hotel, Chicago, IL, on that fateful day in 1989. Those of us who were present remember his enthusiasm and excitement about sitting with a small group and spending the day talking about vision and how it affected neurologically challenged people. He offered many insights and "pearls" about the visual process. For "Gus", sharing information with others for the purpose of helping individuals with vision problems, particularly those with neurological problems, was very enjoyable.
"Gus" recognized that from this meeting there was a movement of minds toward a common goal and purpose, that was to go beyond the traditional approaches in optometry related to vision therapy, and to recognize the issues of visual processing dysfunction that were primarily the cause of the binocular problems following a TBI, CVA, etc. I remember "Gus" saying to me after the first meeting, "We"ve finally arrived!" It was a turning point that Gus had devoted his career toward as it was for all of us.
"Gus" was an excellent clinician as well as a teacher. He had patients that came from great distances for his unique approaches using lenses and prisms to help solve their visual problems. When teaching, he always discussed the need to use lenses and prisms which he considered to be the greatest but most overlooked instrument for initiating change that the optometrist could provide. While "Gus" was not against change and advancement in optometry, he was saddened that optometry was overlooking what he considered to most important means to help people. He considered the lens and the prism not as compensatory or passive approaches to improve acuity or align the images for the two eyes. He believed that the lens and prism, when used with the ultimate knowledge and experience of the optometrist, was a dynamic instrument to affect adaptation of the visual process.
"Gus" was never at a loss for an explanation of an opinion. While there are some who may have been reluctant to accept his point of view, the controversy that he stirred at meetings were often what people remembered most about the meetings. I believe that "Gus" did this purposely to make us think.
Despite his many contributions, I prefer to remember him as one who made us think and who unselfishly dedicated himself to sharing and serving others. While we have lost a great friend and colleague, may his legacy live on throughout the NORA Forkiotus Scholarship for students, but primarily through all of our abilities to provide neuro-optometric rehabilitative care to serve those who "Gus" dedicated his life for.
Respectfully,
William V. Padula OD, FNORA
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