“Kay Lanius said Saturday that her husband helped pioneer the use of contact lenses when he worked on models who needed to rid themselves of glasses for the sake of their modeling careers.”

That’s the kind of professional self-sacrifice with which I can identify.

Ed

Paper: Sarasota Herald-Tribune (FL)
Title: RALPH D. LANIUS HELPED PIONEER USE OF LENSES
Date: January 4, 1998

Ralph D. Lanius, a longtime Venice resident who used his scientific interest in optometry to create special lenses for fighter pilots, models and others, died Dec. 29, 1997. He was 101.

Lanius had moved to Florida from his hometown of Cincinnati in 1949 and eventually settled in Venice, but not before completing an accomplished professional career as an optometrist. After a brief stint as an amateur boxer, Lanius threw himself into his work, setting the pace for technical advancements in the vision field, said his wife, Kay.

Kay Lanius said Saturday that her husband helped pioneer the use of contact lenses when he worked on models who needed to rid themselves of glasses for the sake of their modeling careers.

Lanius, born March 1, 1896, in Cincinnati, also developed a reputation for helping patients who had been rejected by other doctors because their eyesight was deemed too poor to assist. Lanius would take them on with a special zeal.

“He said he got such a thrill because seeing meant so much to those people,” his wife said.

He also held several patents on plastic lenses and was credited with inventing the target lenses used by World War II bombardiers as they shot down enemy planes, his wife said.

Ed

An Untold Story of College Hill: Len Lanius, father of American Jiu-Jitzu

Did you ever wonder for whom Lanius Lane, which runs from Hillcrest Road to the nature center at LaBoiteaux Woods, was named for? Leonard “Len” Lanius may be one of the forgotten characters in College Hill’s past, but it turns out he was quite a colorful fellow who had careers in wrestling, the martial arts, agriculture and optometry.

Born in 1868, Lanius moved to Cincinnati as a boy and began shining shoes, selling papers and worked as a carriage painter, perhaps for the Emerson & Fisher Carriage Co., which may be how he found his way to College Hill. Much like the young Theodore Roosevelt, he became interested in athletics in his youth after doctors said he was unlikely to live to the age of 20. Building up his strength, Lanius became an avid wrestler and won 70 straight “combats without losing a fall.” By the early 1890s he had become the light-weight wrestling champion of the world—at least that was his lifelong claim.

Through wrestling, he became interested in the self-defense techniques of the Japanese, fascinated with the physical principles of a smaller man taking down a bigger man by using his opponent’s weight and movements against him. Years of study led to the landmark publication in 1922 of his American Jiu-Jitsu: The New Art of Self Defense, and so became the founder of American Jiu-Jitsu, which is still practiced today.
After his wrestling career, Lanius traveled with the circus and on the vaudeville circuit and later joined the sports staff at the Cincinnati Post. He was also a coach at the Ohio Military Institute, and commentator on WLW radio about wrestling.
During the 1890s the story goes, a bachelor friend one day gave him two hens and told Lanius to fatten them up ant the invite him to dinner. While waiting for the hens to fatten he went out of town to full several engagements, and when he returned, Lanius’ wife Minnie asked him not to kill the birds but to keep them for the eggs they were laying. A short time later he was standing in the market in Cincinnati and a farmer persuaded him to buy nine Plymouth Rock chickens at an exorbitant price. He afterward learned that all of the fowls were roosters. From this start he began to build up a business, which soon became one of the largest poultry yards in Ohio: the College Hill Poultry Farm. It was headquartered at his farm on the present day Lanius Lane for more than 30 years.

Here is a 1917 advertisement for his poultry:

“How to Get Winter Eggs! Requires the careful selection of persistent layers. For many years our stock has been awarded highest honors at leading shows. We can furnish the quality that will start you right. White Leghorns, Buff Leghorns, White Wyandottes, S.C. Rhode Island Reds, Buff Orpingtons. Eggs $2 per setting or three setting at $5. A limited number of eggs from our very highest show quality $5 per setting, none better. COLLEGE HILL POULTRY FARM, Sta. K, Cincinnati, O., Len Lanius, Prop. Order direct from this ad. Mention Eagle. Reasonable fertility guaranteed.
Hamilton Pike, College Hill”

By 1920, however, Lanius was on to yet another career, having opened an optometry store in Cincinnati. Perhaps failing eyesight as the result of the many blows he had sustained during his wrestling days was the motivation for his final career change, we can only speculate, but one thing is clear: whatever venture Lanius undertook he did so with gusto and panache that earns him a unique place in College Hill history.

Len Lanius had two children, including Ralph D Lanius, who was born in College Hill in 1896. During Ralph’s 101 years of life he was an amateur wrestler and optometrist like his father. In fact, Ralph was a pioneer in the development of contact lenses and was credited with inventing the target lenses used by World War II bombardiers to shoot down enemy planes.

American Jiu Jitsu and many other free manuals can be found at:
http://stores.lulu.com/lawson

Thanks again Jason!

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk