Eleanor Eaton Faye, MD, FACS, an ophthalmologist and a leader in the field of low vision, died on Jan. 7, 2020, in New York City. She was 96 years old. Dr. Faye received her medical degree from Stanford University School of Medicine in 1950, at a time when women in the medical field were still considered a rarity. Dr. Faye was the first woman resident at Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital, and was attending ophthalmic surgeon there for many years. She was Medical Director at Lighthouse Guild in New York until she was 91 years old in 2014, the culmination of an affiliation which spanned 60 years. (Dr. Faye served as Medical Director, Ophthalmological Advisor and Director of Lighthouse Guild Low Vision Services at various points in her career.) Founder and lead instructor with the Lighthouse Guild Continuing Education Program in Low Vision Care, Dr. Faye lectured at universities, hospitals and agencies and was a powerful influence in changing the perception of individuals who were blind or visually impaired with the publication of her first book in 1970 named The Low Vision Patient: Clinical Experiences with Adults and Children.
Dr. Faye’s leadership during her long and distinguished career played a pivotal role in shaping the field of low vision nationally and internationally. She was quoted in a 2006 New York Times article by Jane Brody titled, “Latest Technology Gives Life a Clearer Fo-cus, Is Low Vision Limiting Your World?” in which she pointed out the challenges facing people with low vision.
One of Dr. Faye’s major career achievements was bringing togeth-er the professions of optometry and ophthalmology. She was also instrumental in:
· The development of new low vision distance, near, letter, number, and symbol charts based on the work of Louise Sloan, PhD
· A “structured low vision evaluation”
· Understanding the impact of the eye pathology on vision function
· A vision function oriented low vision examination that includ-ed the Amsler grid and contrast sensitivity testing
· The development of new sun wear with NOIR and Corning
· The bringing together of ophthalmologists and optometrists with vision rehabilitation and occupational therapists.
· Training leaders in low vision in optometry and ophthalmolo-gy
Dr. Faye was the author of numerous publications and her book Clinical Low Vision (Boston: Little Brown & Co., 1994) has become a classic text on low vision. Her many accolades and awards in-clude two Merit Awards from the American Academy of Ophthal-mology and the Distinguished Service Award from the American Optometric Association. She was a member of the Board of Trus-tees of the American Foundation for the Blind, Chair of the Ameri-can Academy of Ophthalmology’s Low Vision Standing Committee, and Chair of the Low Vision Clinical Society.
Eleanor Eaton Faye was born in Berkeley, California on Feb. 15, 1923, and in her youth moved to Hawaii, where she attended Punahou School. She also attended the Dana Hall Prep School in Massachusetts. She received her BA from Stanford University in 1945, and her MD from Stanford in 1950. She did her postgraduate training in ophthalmology at New York University and at the Man-hattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital.
Dr. Faye’s maternal ancestor, Francis Eaton, arrived on the May-flower as the carpenter 400 years ago in 1620. He was one of 41 people to sign the “The Mayflower Compact”, the first governing document of Plymouth Colony. Her grandfather, Hans Peter Faye II, left Norway in 1880 to eventually settle on the island of Kauai, in what was then the Kingdom of Hawaii, where he was a business-man, landowner and developer in the islands’ growing sugar indus-try. (Much of the remaining former sugar growing land has been di-versified and is partially a waterfront historic cottage resort.) In 1914, the Norwegian-Hawaiian family moved to Berkeley. Dr. Faye’s father, Hans Peter Faye III, met her mother, Charlotte Eaton of Yonkers, NY, during his time at Choate School and Yale, shortly before he left for military service during World War I.
Dr. Faye is survived by two sisters, Margaret Faye Morgan and Charlotte F. Sharp, as well as six nieces, two nephews and many grand- and great-grand nieces and nephews.
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