Roger Leech, senior partner of F Robson & Co, Newcastle upon Tyne died on November 20 at the age of 87.
Leech studied engineering at Cambridge University, graduating in 1951. His uncles, Percy and Douglas Young, already second generation opticians at Robsons in Newcastle, suggested optics as a career. So he studied for his diploma in ophthalmic optics at Northampton Polytechnic (now City University). After qualifying in 1954, he joined his uncles in their practices.
He was an enthusiastic fitter of contact lenses and meetings of the fledgling North East Contact Lens society were held at Robsons because it was one of few practices in the area to have a slit lamp at that time.
With his wife Jane, he was also involved in rigid lens manufacturing when they set up Norcon Labs. The business also had a branch in Edinburgh (John Trotter & Co, now part of Black & Lizars) so he would split his time between the two practices. He was instrumental in the move to and design of the current practice on Edinburgh’s prestigious George Street. Two of his children followed in his footsteps and still work in the practices.
Leech stepped back from patient care when he turned 70 but was still very involved in the practice until recently. He never lost his interest in nor love of optics becoming a liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers.
He is survived by his wife Jane, three children and six grandchildren and will be sorely missed by all.