Geoffrey McKellen (1903-1985)

Geoffrey McKellen was the son of an optician from Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent. He studied optics in Manchester and gained the fellowship of the British Optical Association (BOA). He then worked in the practice of W B Barker and later returned to North Staffordshire.
With Raymond Watson he arrived in the US on May 3, 1946. They stayed for just over a month, visiting among others, William Feinbloom, one of the great pioneers in contact lenses.
McKellen was a founding member of the Contact Lens Society and later became president. He actually practised in North Staffordshire, retiring in 1978. He was chairman of Staffordshire LOC for many years and was also a former chairman of the North Midlands branch of the BOA.
From 1929 to 1971 he taught optics at Stoke-on-Trent Technical College and worked extensively with Arthur Forknall. He was granted an Honorary Diploma in Contact Lens Practice 'in recognition of his advanced and original work' and developed a particular expertise in scleral lenses.
McKellen died shortly after the death of his wife Stella, to whom he had been married for 50 years, in 1985.