Richard N. Lolley; USC, UCLA Professor, Expert on Vision

Richard N. Lolley, 66, a neuroscientist at USC’s Keck School of Medicine who taught at UCLA for 30 years. Lolley’s early research in molecules crucial to vision helped immeasurably in understanding poor eyesight, blindness and retinitis pigmentosa. He was the first to identify the defect that leads to inherited blindness. Lolley’s lifelong research was funded by the National Institutes of Health. Born in Blaine, Kan., he earned a bachelor’s degree at the University of Kansas, planning to be a pharmacist. But eager for greater challenges, he added a doctorate in physiology and biochemistry at Kansas and went into vision research. During his three decades at UCLA, Lolley headed its department of anatomy and cell biology and conducted research at the West Los Angeles veterans hospital. Six years ago, he moved to USC as professor of cell and neurobiology and ophthalmology and associate dean for scientific affairs. At both universities, Lolley was known not only for his research but for his ability to train and oversee graduate students. He was a past trustee and president of the Assn. for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology and received the organization’s Proctor Research Medal in 1994. He earned the Jules Stein Living Tribute Award from Retinitis Pigmentosa International in 1985, the Alcon Institute award for excellence in vision research in 1991 and the R.S. Dow neurological sciences award in 1992. He had been writing a third volume of memoirs about his Irish family and collapsed at his computer. On Monday in Pasadena of heart failure.