Ronald E. Carr ’54

Ron died June 8, 2024.

While preparing at Columbia High School, he took part in swimming, student government, and orchestra. A biology major, he joined Cap and Gown, served as IAA sports manager, and participated in Orange Key and the Campus Fund Drive.

He earned a medical degree at Johns Hopkins Medical School and married Nancy Gould in 1957. After residency in ophthalmology and a period of patient care and research at NIH, he began teaching at the NYU Medical Center in 1965. He became professor of ophthalmology in 1972, retiring in 2014. A pioneer in the use of electrodiagnostic testing for inherited diseases of the eye, he was a scholar of achromatopsia, cone dystrophy, and various retinal diseases and degenerations, publishing in many medical journals and books. A widely admired diagnostician, he was often the ultimate referral for patients of his peers. He was a devoted teacher and mentor to scores of clinical and research fellows and residents.

Ron loved international travel, books and movies of all sorts, ballets, symphonies, operas, photography, martinis, The New York Times crossword puzzles, and strawberry milkshakes.

In addition to his wife of 67 years, Nancy, Ron leaves behind sons Peter and Tim; daughter Jackie; seven grandchildren; a great-granddaughter; and his brother Richard ’60.