A family committal ceremony will be held Sept. 23 for Raymond “Ray” Edwin Records, M.D., former chair of the UNMC Department of Ophthalmology. Dr. Records died in October 2016.
Dr. Records joined UNMC in 1970 and was at the university for nearly 20 years.
“Dr. Records served as chair of the UNMC Department of Ophthalmology during a pivotal period in the department’s development,” said James Gigantelli, M.D., interim chair of the department. “It was an era during which academic departments were transitioning from community-based faculty to full-time, university-employed faculty. It was also a time when departments of ophthalmology were newly appointing basic scientists whose research pertained to vision and ocular disease.
“Dr. Records led the department successfully through this period and established an academic foundation upon which successive leaders have built what is now UNMC’s Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences and Stanley M. Truhlsen Eye Institute,” Dr. Gigantelli said. “We are grateful for his accomplishments here at UNMC and to our profession.”
When Gerald Christensen, M.D., professor in the UNMC Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, was hired by Dr. Records in 1975, he was the third full-time faculty member in ophthalmology.
“He was an interesting guy, he was extremely bright and had very, very good knowledge of ophthalmology and ophthalmology research,” Dr. Christensen said. “After one of the other ophthalmologists left, Dr. Records and I were the only two full-time faculty there for several years. We were involved a lot in clinic and teaching. He wrote a textbook while I was there and then his emphasis was the training of young ophthalmologists to go out and practice. Some of them are now retired.”
After the family committal ceremony at Clatonia Cemetery, a reception for family, friends and former associates will be held at noon at Legends of Clatonia in Clatonia, Neb.