Wife of ICO Alum Funds Scholarship, Helps Uninsured in His Memory

Linda Gorman and her late husband Dr. Stanley Gorman were intent on giving to ICO through their estate plan. Thanks to them, uninsured patients at the Dr. Alfred and Sarah Rosenbloom Center on Vision and Aging are being treated, while a scholarship gift is helping ICO deserving students.

Stanley and Linda Gorman started dating in 1967, while she was in nursing school and he was a first-year optometry student at the Illinois College of Optometry. “I wanted contacts, and I decided to get them from Stan at the ICO clinic,” Linda says. “Getting fitted for your first contact lenses is kind of a challenging experience, but it was comforting having him help me through it. I could see what a good doctor he was and how much he loved his work.”

Soon after graduation, Stan started a job with a large optometry practice at Kaiser Permanente in West Los Angeles, and he spent his 25-year career with the same practice.

“Stan had such a rewarding career,” Linda says. “He loved being an optometrist, and he had so many patients who loved him, too. He was always happy to get up in the morning and go to work.”

Stan and Linda were both fortunate to attain advanced degrees without incurring debt, and they wanted to help other students obtain degrees in health care without massive debt. Linda has donated to UCLA, where she earned her master’s in nursing. When Stan got sick later in life, he told Linda he wanted her to eventually contribute to ICO—which is celebrating 150 years of service to the profession and the community—in his memory.

Linda donated $100,000 to the Dr. Alfred and Sarah Rosenbloom Center on Vision and Aging for uninsured people, with the waiting room at the center being named in Stan’s memory. She also donated $100,000 to endow a scholarship in Stan’s name for students with financial need, specifically those who are first in their families to enter post-graduate studies. Through Linda’s estate planning, she’ll eventually donate more to Stan’s scholarship fund.

“I know Stan wanted to contribute to his alma mater to help the college and the field of optometry continue to grow,” Linda says. “ICO has been very helpful and has made the process easy for me. I hope other graduates and their families will consider donating as well.”

An estate gift is a simple way to extend your connection to ICO and the optometry field. Contact Matthew J. Asciutto, MS at 312-949-7073 or masciutto@ico.edu to learn about your options.