Optometrist and contact lens pioneer, Adolph Lombart, died December 28, 2011. He was 89 years old.

Lombart, a U.S. Army veteran and graduate of the Pennsylvania State College of Optometry, opened several private practices in Virginia throughout the late 1940s. He especially enjoyed fitting contact lenses, and started a full-time contact lens manufacturing business in 1959. Lombart continued to expand his business and sell contact lenses to his colleagues for more than a decade.

In 1972, he and his two sons—Kenneth and Rick—began selling and distributing other instruments, including slit lamps and lensmeters. Finally, in 1979, Lombart retired from the company, leaving Kenneth and Rick to run Lombart Instruments.

Adolph Lombart was an innovator in the field of contact lens manufacturing and will be missed by many.