GAMAGORI, Japan—Hideo Ozawa, the founder and chairman of the board of Nidek Co., Ltd. passed away of heart failure on June 16, 2009, at a hospital in Gamagori, Japan. He was 79 years old.

Ozawa was born on May 23, 1930 in Anjo City, Aichi, Japan. After graduating from Nagoya University in 1953 with a degree in physics, he joined Kohfuku Industrial Co., Ltd. (currently Kowa Co., Ltd.) He studied at the Institute of Optics at the University of Rochester, N.Y. from 1957 to 1959, and later lectured on applied optics at Shizuoka University in Japan.

In 1971, Ozawa resigned from Kowa and founded Nidek in Gamagori, Japan. His goal was to link optics and electronics. The company’s first big success came in 1973 when it developed the first Xenon photocoagulator in Japan. In 1982, Nidek introduced the first auto-refractor.

Ozawa’s global vision led to successful subsidiaries in the U.S., France, and Italy. He received the prestigious "Order of the Rising Sun" award from the emperor of Japan in 2004.

His ambition was to make things from "invisible to visible." Ozawa spent half his time traveling, meeting with doctors and industry leaders, and developing new technologies in optics, lasers, coating, and diagnostic devices.

“The ophthalmic/optical world has lost a man of vision, a man of honor, a man of greatness,” said Gerard Santinelli, president of Santinelli International, Nidek’s U.S. distributor. “Santinelli has lost our mentor and our dear friend. Mr. Ozawa leaves a legacy with a great world class organization in Nidek, and a worldwide distribution channel committed to continue and fulfill his vision.”