User:Bear1947/Sandbox

Dr. Herbert A. Wertheim is an inventor, optometrist, entrepreneur and philanthropist. He is the founder and president of Brain Power Incorporated, a manufacturer of products for opticians, optometrists and optical laboratories. He is or has been a majority shareholder, charman or board member of 18 private, NYSE or NASDAQ companies in diverse fields, including banking, health care, aerospace, real estate and transportation.

Professional Background
Dr. Wertheim is a graduate of Brevard Community College, Florida, and the University of Florida, where he studied electrical and computer engineering. He also received a B.S. in optical engineering and a Doctor of Optometry from the Southern College of Optometry in association with the University of Tennessee Medical School. He was awarded the Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa, from Florida International University and has completed graduate studies at Stanford University, London School of Economics, Northwestern University and IMD in Switzerland. He is a distingushed and life member of Tau Beta Pi Honorary Engineering Society. In addition to his years as a practicing optometrist, Dr. Wertheim was a distingushed lecturer in Physiological Optics and Optometry and the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute and an Adjunct Professor of Physics in the graduate program at the University of Miami, Florida. He also served as director of the University of Tennessee Medical School Computer Center. He was one of the first NASA engineers at Cape Canaveral, where he worked on computer and instrumentation technologies for the early Mercury manned space flight program.

Brain Power Incorporated
Brain Power Incorporated, founded in 1971 by Dr. Wertheim, manufactures over 1000 products for eye care professionals and optical laboratories at its facilities in Miami, Florida and Rugby, UK. Building on the company's expertise in dyeing plastic eyeglass lenses, Dr. Wertheim introduced in 1983 ultraviolet-absorbing dyes that could be applied to finished lenses either by manufacturing laboratories or by individual optometrists. Dr Wertheim had stressed that ultraviolet light was a primary cause of cataracts and retinal deterioration, and BPI's UV-absorbing technology insured that ultraviolet light all the way up to the edge of the visible spectrum was blocked from the user's eyes. More recently, BPI has manufactured colored dyes that have been used experimentally in diagnosing and/or treating dyslexia  , autism , Parkinson's-related dyskinesia and childhood migraines in children.

Florida International University
Dr. Wertheim served as Chairman of the Board of Directors and Board member of the Florida International University Foundation from 1988 through 2001. He was a founding member of the Florida International University Board of Trustees at its establishment by the Florida Legislature in 2000 and was reappointed for a second term by Governor Bush in 2003. He served as chairman and vice chairman of the University's most successful Capital Campaign, which raised more than $200 million. As chairman of FIU's Academic Affairs Committee he conceived, initiated and won approval of the University's Trustees for the Medial College and was asked to chair the Medical College Initiative. After a multi-year legislative campaign including community and university involvement, the FIU Medical College was established. In May 2009, the Dr. Herbert and Nicole Wertheim Family Foundation made a $20 million contribution which becomes $40 million with state matching funds to establish multiple endowments, including student scholarships, research fellowships, leadership lectures, medical community advancement and eight endowed chairs for the Medical College, including the first endowed chair in Optometry and Physiological Optics in any medical school. In June 2009, the FIU Board of Trustees named the new college the "Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine" in his honor and named him Founding Chairman of the College of Medicine and Trustee Emeritus of the University. Dr Wertheim and his wife Nicole have enabled gifts of millions of dollars to the University's music, theater, dance and business educational programs. Some of the gifts helped construct, equip, furnish and fund as many as 35 FIU School of Music graduate scholarships each year at the 750 seat Herbert and Nicole Wertheim Concert Hall and 300 seat theater at the Performing Arts Center at FIU. The Wertheim Concert Hall received almost $1 million from their foundation for a new concert organ donated in remembrance of his mother, Sydell Ida Wertheim. In 2007, the Wertheim Foundation purchased two additional teaching organs for the music school to honor Retiring Director Dr. Fredrick Kaufman. The Wertheim Plant and Bio Research and Teaching Conservatory were the first named buildings at the University along with its adjacent case study and lecture hall. This modern facility is also used extensively by local and national groups for conferences, lectures and meetings. In 1991 he endowed the Dr. Herbert A. Wertheim Lecture Series in Business Leadership. The lecture series allows MBA students, faculty and business leaders to participate and have an opportunity to interact with business leaders at a luncheon and various private educational meetings.

Other Charitable Activities
Dr. Wertheim has served as a member of numerous local and national charitable boards, including the University of Miami Citizens Board, Dade County Zoological Society, American Heart Association, Lighthouse for the Blind and the Boy Scouts of America. He was a founder of the Friends of Vail and the Vail Valley Citizen of the Year awards. He has also been a board member of the Vail Valley Foundation.He recently served on the board of the International Sea Keepers, an organization of yacht owners that collect scientific data using their boats and crew and then broadcast the data by satellite to universities and governments around the world. Dr. Wertheim has served as chairman of the Dr. Herbert and Nicole Wertheim Family Foundation since 1977. It has supported hundreds of local and international educational, cultural, sporting and health care organizations around the world with millions of dollars in financial aid and grants. In 1987 the Foundation was the founding benefactor of the Koala and Asian River Otter projects at Miami Metro Zoo. They funded the building of the public radio station in Vail, Colorado and educational TV repeaters in the Vail Valley. The Wertheim Foundation was the first to fund a five-year PBS contract for National Geographic and ten other science and cultural programs for WPBT Miami Public Television.

Personal
Dr. Wertheim and his wife Nicole spend their time boating, traveling and lecturing to eye care professionals and other health care providers around the world. They have two married daughters and four grandchildren living in California.