Edward Ward Purnell ’50

DR. EDWARD W PURNELL died of lung cancer in Cleveland on Oct. 8, 1993. He was 65. At the time of his death, he was Charles 1. Thomas Professor Emeritus of Ophthalmology at Case Western Reserve Univ. and University Hospitals of Cleveland.

Ed joined us from Mercersburg. He was an hon ors biology graduate and a member of N.R.O.T.C. and Cloister. He served three years in the navy, seeing combat in the Korean War. In 1953, he entered Western Reserve School of Medicine, where he spent 40 years as a student, as a teacher, and ultimately as director of ophthalmology. He was a pioneer in the application of ultrasound to the study of the eye and the diagnosis of eye disease, publishing some 50 professional articles.

Ed was a member of the Retina Society, the Intl. Society of Diagnostic Ultrasound, and the American Ophthalmological Society, one of only six Ohioans ever elected to that body. He received many professional awards, and was honored by the Edward W Purnell Lectureship in Ophthalmology at Case Western Reserve and a fellowship established in his name by the Ohio Lions Eye Research Foundation.

He is survived by his wife, Marjorie; sons Edward A. 11 '76 and Frank; and daughters Laura Jansa and Jennie Flint. To each of them, the class extends its deepest sympathy.

The Class of 1950