Obituary: Lex McClymont FBDO

The late Lex McClymont FBDO

It is with sadness that we announce the death of former ABDO member, AC McClymont, known to everyone as Lex. He died earlier in October at the age of 93.

After leaving school, Lex worked in an old style retail outlet, which supplied and repaired spectacles, contact lenses as well as clocks, watches and other precision instruments. When he was 19, Lex did his National Service with the RAF and this resulted in a keen interest in aeronautics.

After his National Service, Lex went back to retail work where he re-kindled his interest in horology as well as ophthalmic optics. With the passing of the Opticians Act 1958, Lex decided his future would be better served if he gained qualification as a dispensing optician.

After his ADO qualification, he continued to work in optical practice for several years. In the late 1970s, Lex switched from working in practice to become a lecturer in the Ophthalmic Optics Department at Glasgow College of Technology, which later became the Vision Sciences Department at Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU).

When I joined the staff there in 1981, Lex was able to guide me through my early days in the department and, naturally, we became great friends. As well as the administration duties which he carried out, Lex’s main teaching subject was ophthalmic lenses, which he taught to students on both the optometry and dispensing programmes.

Many ex-students will remember Lex who taught his subject with a traditional didactic style drawing these fantastic diagrams. Staff and students at the university would recognise Lex as the man who would pass holding his giant wooden ruler, protractor and compass. He was always very approachable, and I am sure hundreds of ex-students in practice today will remember Lex with warmth and affection as well as appreciating the foundation knowledge that he gave them in ophthalmic lenses principles.

At different times in the department, Lex shared offices with Dr Glyn Walsh, Professor Norman Button and myself. There were plenty of opportunities for strong discussions and comment about matters involving optics, individual students as well as the general management of the university.

When Peter Rafferty joined the department, Lex was again involved in helping Peter with advice during his early days of teaching and administration. Some of Lex’s interaction with other members of staff was carried out at late in the evening as Lex was not one to feel that a phone call after 11pm was late. But, above all, the relationship with other members of staff in the department was one of warmth and appreciation for the work he carried out.

Lex always encouraged ophthalmic dispensing students to take a keen interest in their profession, and to continue this interest after they finished their courses. He was always pleased when he saw former students progressing well with their careers and contributing to the future of the ABDO profession.

Lex also served as a member of the ABDO Academic Committee for a number of years. He nominally retired in 1996 but was asked to continue his teaching on a part-time basis. He was happy to do this and continued this up till his early 70s.

Being a well-read man, there were many topics outside optics that Lex was happy to talk at length about. Horology, aeronautics, ornithology, motor mechanics and other topics like car parking. In his retirement, Lex built from scratch, using his own knowledge and skill, an amazing pendulum clock. The story of this was published in a horological journal.

The individual GCU staff members mentioned above and myself attended his funeral on 24 October. In our conversation after the service, we all felt sad about his passing but we agreed that our lives and the lives of so many former students, were definitely enriched for knowing Lex McClymont.