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The Crozier Family name can be traced back to the founding of the Pennsylvania College of Optometry (PCO), and through various family members, has played an instrumental role throughout the 100 years of what is now Salus University. Encompassing several generations, the Crozier name has been synonymous in regards to teaching and mentoring as well as in the administration of PCO. When PCO renamed one of its buildings Crozier Hall, it honored the countless contributions of four generations of the Crozier Family.
In his early years, John E. Crozier was a messenger boy, delivering eyeglasses from the D.V. Brown Company optical laboratory. It seemed inevitable then, that as he grew, his future plans would include the world of vision. In the early 20th century, aspiring optometrists served informal apprenticeships, a path which he followed, eventually opening his first practice in a storefront on Frankford Avenue in Philadelphia.
Nearby was the office of Dr. Albert Fitch, and with their shared interest in optometry and shared desire to elevate optometry to the same high standards as other healthcare professions, a friendship was born.
When the Optometry Licensing Act was signed in Pennsylvania in 1917, Dr. Crozier encouraged professional education for practitioners. Dr. Fitch responded to the challenge and just two years later in 1919, the charter was approved for the Pennsylvania State College of Optometry, which was later shortened to Pennsylvania College of Optometry in 1964. Dr. Fitch became its first president and Dr. Crozier became a founding member of the corporation and subsequently, a member of the Board of Trustees from 1930 to 1939. He was awarded PCO’s President’s Medal in 1995.
Dr. John J. Crozier, son of John E. Crozier, had a long and distinguished career as a PCO administrator, serving under five of the six College presidents. After joining the administration in 1965, he served as registrar and director of Admissions and retired as the vice president and dean of Student Affairs. By the time he retired in 1991, he had admitted two-thirds of the graduates of the College.
“Dr. John” was the first alumnus to be elected to the Board of Trustees, serving from 1956 to 1958. In 1974, he was a consultant to the Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry and established the organization’s Washington, D.C. office. He served on the Federal Department of Health, Education and Welfare’s (HEW) Allied Health Professionals Review Committee from 1969 to 1972 and on the Student Financial Assistance Committee from 1972 to 1975.
He received the Alumni Association’s Albert Fitch Memorial Alumnus of the Year Award in 1982. He was awarded the PCO’s President’s Medal in 1995, prior to his death on March 5, 2004, at the age of 78.
George H. Crozier, OD ’49 (1926-1988)Dr. George Crozier, also a son of John E. Crozier, had a career as an administrator and faculty member at PCO. He joined the faculty in 1949 and served as an associate professor until 1981, primarily teaching biological sciences.
He developed and introduced the course on vertebrate embryology and co-chaired the revision and integration of all bioscience courses for first-and second-year students. Dr. Crozier also published four laboratory manuals used extensively within bioscience coursework at the College.
Dr. Crozier maintained a private practice for many years and it was his practice that was the first to be purchased by The Eye Institute (TEI) in 1980. Along with his brother and wife, in 1982, he received the Albert Fitch Memorial Alumnus of the Year Award.
In 1981, he was appointed associate dean of Academic Affairs for faculty and served in this capacity until his death in 1988.
Gilda Coppola Crozier, OD ’43, FAAORevered by students as an outstanding teacher and mentor, Dr. Gilda Crozier, wife of Dr. George Crozier (whom she met at PCO and taught on his return from military service), began her academic career as a clinical instructor at the College before joining the faculty in the field of anatomy in 1945.
Over the years, she taught ocular anatomy, microanatomy and vertebrate embryology. Dr. Crozier developed and introduced a number of courses, including normal and abnormal development of the eye and ocular biology.
She co-chaired the revision and integration of all bioscience courses for first and second-year students, and in 1971, was appointed to the National Institutes of Health, Bureau of Health, Education and Welfare, serving until 1975.
Dr. Crozier was a consultant for the National Board of Examiners in Optometry from 1970 to 1978 and in 1982, was honored as the Alumni Association’s Albert Fitch Memorial Alumna of the Year. She was awarded PCO’s President’s Medal in 1995. In 2003, she received the Alumni Association’s Special Recognition Award and she currently holds the rank of professor emerita.
Georgia Crozier, OD ’84, MS ’87Although it wasn’t initially her career path—she wanted to go into nursing—Dr. Georgia Crozier received her Doctor of Optometry from PCO in 1984, completed her residency in primary care at TEI in 1984-85, and her Master of Science in Vision Rehabilitation in 1987.
She is the daughter of Drs. George Crozier and Gilda Coppola Crozier, the wife of John J. Fitzgerald III, DO, FACOG, and the mother of Catena Crozier-Fitzgerald, OD ’14, Francesca Crozier-Fitzgerald, MA, MEd ’19, and Giovanna Crozier-Fitzgerald.
While in college, Dr. Georgia Crozier worked in her father’s office during the summer and did some pre-emptory classwork in clinical exposures and realized she liked it. She liked the diversity of the subject matter, the idea of working with patients, and the idea that one was facing a problem and had to solve it on one’s own. That felt like a good fit to her.
She tried vision rehabilitation and liked it. For the past 18 years, Dr. Crozier has been working in vision rehabilitation at the Moore Eye Institute, which has offices in Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties in Pennsylvania. On non-patient days, she gives presentations on low vision around the country as well as at local synagogues, schools and assisted-living facilities. She also makes sure that her 98-year-old mother, Dr. Gilda Coppola Crozier, is cared for and comfortable.
John J. Fitzgerald III, DO, FACOGDr. John J. Fitzgerald III has served Salus University’s Physician Assistant Studies Program as associate director, director of clinical programs, medical director and associate professor since 2009.
Dr. Fitzgerald specializes in obstetrics and gynecology. His professional certifications include being a diplomate of the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology and a fellow of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
He was commissioner of the Montgomery County Board of Health from 1992 through 1997; principle in Norristown OB-GYN Associates from 1987 through 2010; medical director of Acillare Corporation from 2008 to the present; and since 2010 to the present, a gynecology practitioner at Mercy Women’s Health.
Catena Crozier-Fitzgerald, OD ’14Dr. Catena Crozier-Fitzgerald graduated in 2014 from PCO after completing her undergraduate degree at Drexel University, where she majored in Biomedical Engineering. Before deciding to become an optometrist, she participated in cancer research.
She is now on the staff at Harbor View Eye Care in South Portland, Maine. According to the biography on her practice’s website, while in optometry school at Salus PCO, Dr. Crozier Fitzgerald completed an internship on a remote Native American reservation in Montana, where she was involved in the care of many rare conditions, including advanced diabetes, trauma and ocular disease. She also was able to observe how vision therapy helped patients of any age improve their ability to use their eyes as a team, and improve their quality of life.
Francesca Crozier-Fitzgerald, MA, MEd ’19As part of the University’s 118th Commencement ceremony in the spring 2019, Francesca Crozier-Fitzgerald received her Master of Education (MEd) in Blindness and Visual Impairment degree and set forward continuing her family’s legacy.
With a passion for literary journalism and cultural reporting, Crozier-Fitzgerald received a bachelor’s degree in English from Columbia University in 2010 and a master’s degree in journalism the following year.
Crozier-Fitzgerald eventually felt drawn to working with children with special needs and began looking into various programs in Salus University’s College of Education and Rehabilitation (CER). Torn between the Teacher of Visually Impaired (TVI) and Orientation & Mobility (O&M) program, she shadowed several professionals in the field before it finally clicked for her that TVI was where she belonged.
