Thomas Hedges Jr., expert on the eyes

Thomas R. Hedges Jr., 85, former chief of ophthalmology at Pennsylvania Hospital, died of pancreatic carcinoma Sept. 10 at the Evergreens, a retirement community in Moorestown.

In April 2005, to honor his work, his portrait was installed in the hospital's Great Court.

In a 2004 interview, Dr. Hedges said he was especially proud that in 1976 he cofounded the International Neuro-ophthalmology Society. Neuro-ophthalmology deals with the relationship between the eyes and the central nervous system.

"In 1975, I was at a meeting in Dallas of the American Academy of Ophthalmology," he said in the interview, in the Journal of Neuro-ophthalmology. "In the breakfast line, I ran into an old friend, Alfred Huber, M.D., professor of ophthalmology at the University of Zurich," and they determined to start the INOS.

"My wife, Ann, reminded me that the University of Pennsylvania was a trustee for the 14th-century Chateau de La Napoule, near Cannes," which became the site of the first INOS session.

Born in Cleveland, Dr. Hedges earned his bachelor's from Ohio State University in 1944. He graduated in 1947 from what is now Weill Cornell Medical College.

After his residency at Penn, he was an Army officer until 1954 at what is now the William Beaumont Army Medical Center in El Paso, Texas.

He found it a bit daunting.

In the 2004 interview, Dr. Hedges said he was "the only ophthalmologist at a hospital that took care of the huge Army base at Fort Bliss, the White Sands Missile Proving Grounds, the Biggs Air Force Base, and the air base" at Alamogordo, N.M.

When he returned to Penn, he found his duties no less taxing.

In the interview, he said he had to cover all neuro-ophthalmology cases at the "various clinics associated with Penn, which included the University Hospital, the old Philadelphia General Hospital, the Veterans Hospital, and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia."

In 1954, he opened ophthalmology practices in Philadelphia and Moorestown, said his son, Thomas R. III.

In 1957, Dr. Hedges began at Pennsylvania Hospital, his son said, and was chief of ophthalmology from 1959 until he retired in 1990.

In 1971, his son said, Dr. Hedges was appointed a full professor at Penn, where he taught until he became emeritus in 1991.

In 1957, he cofounded the American Eye Study Club, and from the late 1960s to 1990, his son said, he ran the neuro-ophthalmology course at annual meetings of the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

Besides his son, Dr. Hedges is survived by Ann, his wife of 63 years; four grandsons; and a great-grandson. His son George died in October, and his son William died in 2003.

A funeral took place Sept. 14.