ROCHESTER, NY – The JML Optical family said goodbye to one of its most accomplished members this year. Gerry Lynch was one of the first employees shortly after JML was founded in 1972. She spent the next 45 years working with the company. Gerry was one of the very first female students to attend classes at the University of Rochester’s Institute of Optics – before women were allowed to receive degrees in the program.
Gerry was an Honorary Lifetime Member of the Optical Society of America’s Rochester Chapter, of which she served as Treasurer. During her career she utilized over 14 difference lens design programs, including CodeV which she taught herself while in her 80’s. She designed zoom lenses used in most home movie cameras in the 1950s – 1960’s and one that was launched into space in an RCA satellite. She was a contributing designer of the original Xerox 914 copier lens that helped launch the successful Rochester company. Designing lenses from the near UV through the visible and into the near infrared, she designed thousands of lenses for zoom and non-zoom imaging applications including telescopes, scan lenses, projectors, and microscopes.
At today’s event, JML Optical’s President & CEO Bob Bicksler said “Gerry was a prolific designer whose work will continue to shape the photonics industry for generations. Her wisdom, grace and wit was evident in all facets of her life and I personally feel blessed to have known her.”
JML thanked Monroe County Executive Cheryl Dinolfo for acknowledging Gerry’s accomplishments today with an official Monroe County proclamation.