Obituary: Kurt E Östlund

Swedish optometrist Kurt Östlund died last month at the age of 75 following an illness he bore with great courage, a colleague has reported.

Fellow optometrist Richard Pearson told Optician how Östlund trained as an optician in Stockholm and then studied optometry at Northampton College of Advanced Technology (now City University of London) from 1963 to 1966.

Following a fourth year of clinical training with the distinguished ophthalmologist, Professor Sölve Stenstrøm in Gothenburg, he became a fellow of the British Optical Association (now the College of Optometrists). He subsequently gained the diploma in contact lens practice.

In 1970, Östlund initiated and directed a post-qualification course in contact lenses for Swedish opticians which continued for 25 years until this subject was incorporated within a degree course. To support this teaching, he wrote the first textbooks on contact lenses to be published in Swedish, Kontaktlinsteknik (1970) and Kontaktologi (1980). From 1971, he worked in his father’s practice in Falun and from 1980 managed it and four other practices until 2000.