Tribute

William G. Allyn ’34, 1908—2006

Not long after I joined the University’s optics faculty, William G. Allyn invited me to visit him at the headquarters of the company his father had cofounded in Skaneateles, New York. The company, Welch Allyn, had been guided by “W. G.”—as he was often called to distinguish him from other family members whose first names were also “William”—into a major, privately owned, health care device and instrumentation business.

But as he gave me a personal tour of the plants in Skaneateles, it was clear that he was not watching over just a company. We constantly stopped to talk with employees, and he asked about their personal welfare as if they were members of his extended family.

That concern for the people who worked for him and for the community in which he lived is the hallmark of Bill Allyn’s legacy. Welch Allyn products are found in hospitals and doctors’ offices around the world, but he never forgot his role as a corporate and community citizen who focused on providing opportunities in education, health care, and recreation.

When he died on June 24, he had completed 98 years of a very active life. His son, William F. Allyn, noted that his father could be found “wheel-chairing around Welch Allyn and talking with employees until just a few days before his passing.”

In his autobiography, W. G. wrote, “I was born in Rochester, New York, in February 1908. Sometime around 1913 the family moved to Skaneateles,” which remained his home and headquarters of his business for the rest of his life.

He returned to Rochester after graduating from Dartmouth College with a major in “comparative literature and biography . . . with advanced courses in French and Spanish.” Before he joined his father’s company, he enrolled in the Institute of Optics, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in optometry.

He recalled that the degree “would offer an excellent opportunity for me to obtain a good background in optics and firsthand training in the design and use of ophthalmic devices, including the ophthalmoscope and retinoscope” and that “the faculty was outstanding and it was a pleasure to attend this fine school.” After graduating in 1934, he joined Welch Allyn.

As a professor of optics and director of the Institute of Optics, I sought out W. G. not only because he was a distinguished alumnus, but because he and his company had a strong interest in optical science and technology.

He was, however, intrigued that one of my first teaching assignments in the mid-1950s was to teach optics to optometry students at the University of Manchester’s Institute of Science and Technology. I immediately gained his respect and sympathy. He told me that early in his career he used his license to practice optometry in New York State to run Saturday clinics for Welch Allyn employees.

Our meetings continued after those first visits and the personal relationships and friendships extended to other members of his family and to key employees. I was particularly honored to be asked to sit on the Welch Allyn board of directors, a role that I embraced for many years under three other family members as chair—two sons, Bill and Lew, and son-in-law Peter Soderberg. I, too, became a member of the “extended family.”

W. G.’s longtime relationship with the University was permanently recognized when the family funded an endowed professorship in medical optics in his name. David Williams, a professor in the Departments of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and Optics, is the current holder of the William G. Allyn Professorship in Medical Optics.

For my part, I thank W.G. and all the Allyn family members for their friendship and for their longstanding support of the University.

W.G. is, of course, missed, but he is a legend and very well remembered by all of us whose lives he significantly touched.

—Brian J. Thompson

Thompson is provost emeritus of the University.