Geoffrey D. McKellen was the son of an optician in
Hanley, Stoke on
Trent.He studied optics in
Manchester
and gained the fellowship of the BOA. He worked in the practice of W. B. Barker
and later returned to North Staffordshire.
With Raymond Watson he landed in America on 3 May 1946. They stayed for just over a month, visiting amongst others
William Feinbloom, one of the great
U.S. pioneers of contact lenses.
McKellen was a founding member of the Contact lens Society
and later became President. He 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 DCLP 'in recognition of his advanced and
original work' and developed a particular expertise in scleral lenses.He died shortly after the death of Stella, his wife for 50 years.
