Director of Publications

Former AOA President Harold F. Demmer, Sr., OD ’54, Remembered

MEMPHIS, Tennessee (January 8, 2008) – Harold F. Demmer, Sr., a 1954 graduate of Southern College of Optometry (SCO) and one of 10 SCO alumni to have served as president of the American Optometric Association (AOA), has died.

Dr. Demmer, 81, a native of Cincinnati and resident of Houma, Louisiana, died at 2:30 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2007. A memorial service was held at Chauvin Funeral Home in Louisiana.

He was a U.S. Air Force veteran serving in Okinawa during World War II. In optometry school at SCO following the war, he was a member of Omega Epsilon Phi Fraternity and the Illuminating Engineering Society.

Dr. Demmer served as president of the American Optometric Association, president of the Gulf Zone Optometric Society, president of the Optometry Association of Louisiana, vice president of the AOA, and as president of Houma Lions Club. He was a member of the Chamber of Commerce, Southern Eye Bank, Terrebonne Parish and Bayou River Area Health Planning Commission, Boy and Girl Scouts, American Legion and the VFW.

Dr. Demmer, who retired after practicing optometry for 48 years, was also instrumental in initiating and securing an eye/vision care program in the Louisiana State Penitentiary system. He received the Bourg Lions Community Service Award and the Louisiana Lions Eye Foundation Service Award and was named Louisiana Doctor of Optometry of the Year.

He is survived by his wife, Alicelee Knoff Demmer of Houma; one son, Harold Demmer Jr. and wife, Loretta, of Baton Rouge; two daughters, Linda Sheridan and husband, Dennis, of Estero, Fla., and Lisa O’Dell and husband, Jerry, of Lubbock, Texas; one brother, Frank Xavier Demmer Jr. and wife, Sara, of Riverview, Fla.; four grandchildren, six great-grandchildren, and one niece.

In lieu of flowers, the family requested that memorial donations be made to Southern College of Optometry, 1245 Madison Avenue; Memphis, TN, 38104; (901) 722-3216.

Established in Memphis, Tennessee in 1932, Southern College of Optometry is an independent, not-for-profit institution of higher education with a mission to educate men and women in the art and science of optometry.

###