Obituary: Jan-Karel Querido

Optometry Today is sad to announce the death of “much respected statesman of optometry in the North-East of England,” Jan-Karel Querido, on 5 August.

Professor Nicholas Rumney, senior optometrist and chairman of BBR Optometry, paid tribute, sharing: “I first met Jan-Karel when we were new examiners recruited by the College of Optometrists when the Professional Qualifying Examination revamp of process was undertaken in 1988. We examined mostly together in investigative techniques and refraction, where I was struck by his clarity of thought, attention to detail, and intellectual rigour.”

“Amongst others, he became a mentor to me as I was starting out in practice from a background in research and teaching,” he said.

Born in 1946, Querido was the son of Professor Andries Querido, who established the medical school at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam.

“Falling out of love with psychology in Groningen, Jan-Karel elected to study optometry at Aston in the UK from 1969 because optometry and optics were much less developed professionally in the Netherlands at that time,” Rumney explained.

Querido completed his pre-reg at Birmingham and Midland Eye Hospital and progressed to Fellowship in Optometry of the Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers and British Optical Association Fellowships.

Querido and his wife, Anne-Marijke, moved to the North-East where he established his own practice in 1977.

“With toddlers and a baby on the way, Jan nevertheless embarked upon a three-year part-time MSc at Bradford, travelling down with his colleague, David Morris,” Rumney shared.

“At this time higher degrees were rare amongst practising clinicians and of course there was no established career pathway in qualifications and scope of practice in optometry,” he explained, adding: “In this, Jan was visionary, as was his establishment of the North East Contact Lens Society which he served for many years, gaining a DCLP.”

Querido worked out of two practices in Killingworth and Heaton (formerly Victor Graham).

“He worked and collaborated with many well-known optometrists in the Newcastle area, including Lucy and Andy McGregor, Peter Soulsby, Malcom Offord, Morley Ford, Malcolm Long, and John Davidson,” Rumney said.

Davidson took over the Heaton practice on Querido’s retirement to Fife.

Querido worked for the College of Optometrists as an examiner and assessor for more than 25 years, Rumney said: “countless students passed through his capable hands.”

“He continued this work in Scotland and was able to comfortably satisfy the Scottish GOS requirements as the devolved nation stepped up the scope of practice to the envy of the rest of the UK (except maybe Wales),” Rumney shared.

Querido delivered two Vision Aid Overseas trips, to Burkina Faso in 2008, and to Ethiopia in 2015.

“Jan-Karel was extremely well-loved and well-respected in his field. [He was] known for his straight talking, can-do attitude, and his sense of humour,” Rumney reflected.

He continued: “His diagnostic skills and attention to detail undoubtedly saved vision and lives that others might have missed, and we have all learned from him. While we mourn his passing, we pay tribute to a gentleman who gave his best to our profession and his family.”