Obituary: John Hockney

Former Federation of Manufacturing Opticians (FMO) chair and founder and owner of Cambridge Optical (now Cambridge Optical Group) John Hockney has sadly passed away.

Hockney started his career in the spectacle frame business in London, opening a small unit for lens glazing in Histon and successfully growing the business and moving to larger purpose-built premises in Bar Hill, Cambridgeshire.

Under Hockney’s guidance, the building doubled in size and opened with a celebration for customers and friends by comedian Eric Morecambe.

Former FMO vice chairman Kingsley Sleep worked with Hockney from 1981 to 1991, and described him as an ‘extraordinary character; extrovert, ebullient, clever and shrewd’ as well as a ‘visionary in the world of manufacturing optics’.