In Memoriam
G. Richard O'Connor, MD
1928 – 2007
Director of the Francis I. Proctor Foundation, 1970–1984
George Richard O'Connor was a physician, scientist, and teacher who did as much as anyone of his generation to establish uveitis as a distinct ophthalmic subspecialty. As Director of the Proctor Foundation and a member of the UCSF faculty, he shaped the field through his research, his standards of precision, and above all the generations of fellows he trained.
Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on October 8, 1928, O'Connor graduated from Harvard University in 1950, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He earned his medical degree at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, receiving the Janeway Prize as the highest-ranking student in the Class of 1954. He completed his ophthalmology residency at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York, then pursued further research training at the National Institutes of Health and, as a U.S. Public Health Service Research Fellow, at the University of Uppsala in Sweden and the State Serum Institute in Copenhagen.
He joined the faculty of the University of California, San Francisco in 1962 and, in 1970, was appointed Director of the Francis I. Proctor Foundation for Research in Ophthalmology — a role he held until his retirement in 1984.
O'Connor's research spanned a wide range of inflammatory eye diseases, but he was best known for his work on ocular toxoplasmosis, contributing to a clearer understanding of the roles of parasite proliferation and hypersensitivity in recurrent disease. He was among the earliest advocates for immunosuppressive therapy in inflammatory eye disease, and he was widely regarded as one of the world's leading authorities on uveitis.
He helped build the institutions of his field as well as its science, contributing to the founding of the American Uveitis Society in 1977 and to the early organization of the International Uveitis Study Group.
1928 Born in Cincinnati, Ohio
1950 Graduated from Harvard University (Phi Beta Kappa)
1954 Medical degree, Columbia University (Janeway Prize, top of class)
1962 Joined the faculty of UCSF
1970 Appointed Director of the Francis I. Proctor Foundation
1977 Helped found the American Uveitis Society
1984 Retired from UCSF and the Proctor Foundation
2007 Died in San Francisco on August 9
O'Connor had a lifelong gift for languages, mastering several and traveling in more than 80 countries; he once delivered an entire lecture in Japanese, prepared phonetically, while visiting Japan. After retiring, he pursued a deep passion for ancient history and archaeology, spending many summers excavating in Greece. Colleagues remembered him for an encyclopedic mind, meticulous care in everything he did, and an unflagging generosity toward his students, whose careers he followed and championed for the rest of his life.
Described by those who knew him as brilliant, humble, and loyal, Dr. O'Connor died of cardiac arrest on the morning of August 9, 2007. He was survived by his life partner, Willem N. Beringer of Sausalito; his brother, Robert; his nieces, Diane and Susan O'Connor; and his nephew, David O'Connor. He is remembered with deep affection by the uveitis community he helped to create.
• Obituary, San Francisco Chronicle, August 12, 2007 (via Legacy.com).
• Festschrift, Transactions of the American Ophthalmological Society, 2008 — aosonline.org
• Tribute, American Journal of Ophthalmology, 2008 — ajo.com
Compiled from published tributes and obituaries in his honor.
Francis I. Proctor Foundation · Department of Ophthalmology, UCSF