Richard Wilson Lomas

June 3, 1931 – February 13, 2011

Richard Wilson Lomas, leading ophthalmologist in surgical vision correction in the Northwest, died of a heart attack on Sunday, February 13, 2011. He was 79. Having trained at Case Western Reserve and the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, Lomas launched his ophthalmological practice in the Seattle area in 1962. In Bellevue and Renton, he treated patients over forty years. Working six days a week, he became renowned as a pioneer of refractive technologies such as LASIK, through which he enabled patients to abandon corrective lenses. Lomas perfected his surgery techniques through exchanges with colleagues in the former Soviet Union. He donated his eye care services in New Mexico and in China, where he performed thousands of surgical procedures free of charge. Born at home in Waterville, Maine, and growing up in Needham, Massachusetts, the family summered in Cape Cod, where Richard earned money by picking berries and digging clams. Having eaten dandelion greens from his mother’s garden, Richard treasured the bitter taste of necessity, which prepared him to put himself through school. From his parents, Hildagarde and the Rev. Livingston Lomas, he inherited a spirit of adventure, a love of wilderness and a zest for simple pleasures such as keeping a garden and making large vats of jam. In search of ever-greater challenges, Richard crossed the Atlantic Ocean twice in small crafts and climbed mountains, including Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Rainier, and Macchu Picchu (this 50-kilometer hike he made at age 70). He flew his single engine Piper Comanche 400, from Canada to Scotland, as part of an air race in 1970. Three years later, he and his crew of three survived their 36-foot sailboat—the Fandango–being struck by an oil tanker, but completed their journey from Bordeaux, France, to the Bahamas. He loved to ski, and combined this passion with his love of flying by helicopter skiing. He and his family members renovated a rustic cabin on Whirlpool Point, Stuart Island, Canada, which has been renowned for centuries as a place to fish for salmon. While he was married to his first wife, Jeanne, and since nursing his second wife, Inese, through a struggle with breast cancer that ended in 2001, Richard belonged to the congregation of Bellevue’s First Presbyterian Church. He is survived by his five children, Brad, Martha, Laura, Jamie and Richard, his sisters Merry and Marilyn, and his companion of nine years, Rowana Trott; and by his grandchildren, Wilson, Johnny and Ricky; Jaime, Alejandra and Tomás; Benjamin, Lucy and Kate; and Marta Zabina. He is predeceased by his wife, Inese, and by his brother, Ronald. Please join the family for a celebration of life: 1 pm on Saturday, March 5, 2011 at Bellevue First Presbyterian Church, 1717 Bellevue Way NE, Bellevue, WA 98004. Friends are invited to sign the online guestbook at www.flintofts.com. In lieu of flowers, the family appreciates donations to Alzheimer’s Association at ALZ.org

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