Robert Glen Small

Robert Glen Small, MD died peacefully at home on Sunday, February 5, 2017 after an extended illness. He was born in Rockville Centre, Long Island, New York. Bob graduated with honors from Mount Hermon School for Boys in Mt. Hermon, Massachusetts. At the age of 17, he enlisted as a Navy V-12 premedical student at Princeton University for 2 years. After discharge from the Navy, he attended Yale University where he received his undergraduate and medical degrees followed by a residency in general surgery. He later completed an ophthalmology residency at the University of Oklahoma (OU) in 1967, after which he served as Chief of the Ophthalmology Section at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Oklahoma City for more than 16 years. He was a physician at the Dean A. McGee Eye Institute for more than 30 years and served on the faculty in the OU Department of Ophthalmology where he rose to the rank of Professor in 1981, and assumed Professor Emeritus status in 2002. He received the Dean McGee Eye Institute's Edward and Thelma Gaylord Faculty Honor Award in 1995. He also created the Oculoplastic Service at the Dean McGee Eye Institute in the years when oculoplastic surgery was being born as a specialty, and helped trained dozens of ophthalmologists in this specialty. He conducted the Orbital Anatomy Dissection Course for first-year ophthalmology residents, and in 2012, was a nominee for the Aesculapian Award for excellence in teaching in Clinical Sciences at the OU Medical School. At the Dean McGee Eye Institute Grand Rounds on December 17, 2012, Bob was honored for his 45 years of outstanding contributions and commitment to education by the permanent establishment of the Robert G. Small, MD Resident Award for Medical Student Education. He was a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, and the American Academy of Ophthalmology, and a member of the American Ophthalmological Society, The American Society of Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, the American Medical Association, and the Oklahoma County Medical Society. He was also published in dozens of Ophthalmology journals and books. Bob was preceded in death by his parents, Helen and Fred Small, his brother, Richard, and the mother of his three sons, Beverley Marks. He is survived by his loving and devoted wife of 35 years, Claudia, his sons Gordon (Gloria) and their children Nathan, Andrew, Julia, Luke, and Jason; Bobby (Ellen) and their daughters Callie Sitton, and Dottie; and Greg (Shirley) and their sons, Houston and Hunter. He is also survived by Claudia's two children Lynn Arnn (Dyane) and their sons, Ethan and Lucas, and Dia Mays and her sons, Cort and Robert. A memorial service will be held at All Souls' Episcopal Church at 11:00 AM on Thursday, February 9, 2017. In lieu of flowers the family requests donations to the Dean A. McGee Eye Institute, 608 Stanton L. Young Boulevard 73104, or the charity of choice.