Dr. Joseph C. Toland January 18, 1931 - December 4, 2016
Dr. Joseph C. Toland was a beloved teacher and clinical provider who selflessly supported the mission of the Salus University Pennsylvania College of Optometry and the optometric profession through advocacy and leadership. He graduated from the Pennsylvania College of Optometry in 1954 and later studied medicine, graduating from Hahnemann Medical College in 1963. During the turf wars between optometry and ophthalmology in the early ‘70s, he led the political challenge to medicine in support of expanding the scope of optometric practice to include the treatment of disease. His advocacy was central to the therapeutic profession that optometry is today.
He mentored thousands of optometry students and residents during his 45 years of service to the University’s optometry program. His personal characteristics of kindness, compassion, and loyalty are to be admired and emulated by all. Dr. Toland’s gentle and humble teaching style made him an effective teacher and mentor, ensuring his students were enriched through each interaction they had with him.
It is only fitting that Dr. Toland be memorialized in a manner that is commensurate with his dedication to our institution and the optometric profession. To honor the memory and legacy of this special man, Pennsylvania College of Optometry has established the Joseph C. Toland memorial Scholarship Fund to help offset the high cost of today’s optometric education. The Toland Scholarship will be awarded to a worthy third year optometry student (or students) who is in good academic standing and demonstrates a distinctive ability for providing competent and compassionate care to his/her patients. Your support to the Toland Scholarship fund will serve as a fitting tribute to a remarkable man whose loyalty and dedication to optometry, the institution, and his students, was unparalleled.