J. Calhoun, pediatric ophthalmologist

Joseph Harlan Calhoun, 72, of Haverford, former director of the pediatric ophthalmology department at Wills Eye Hospital, died of coronary artery disease Monday at Lankenau Hospital in Wynnewood.

Dr. Calhoun grew up in West Virginia, where his father, Harlan, was a justice on the state's supreme court. He earned a bachelor's degree from West Virginia University and a medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania. After completing a pediatric ophthalmology fellowship at Wills Eye, he joined the hospital staff. In 1980, Dr. Calhoun became director of the pediatric ophthalmology department. He was also on the staff of Bryn Mawr Hospital and maintained practices in Philadelphia and King of Prussia before retiring in 2007.

Dr. Calhoun was involved with research on the use of minute quantities of botulism toxin to straighten crossed eyes in the early 1980s, and in 1984 he helped found a research center at Wills to study children's eye-movement problems.

For almost 20 years, he volunteered with Project Orbis, treating children and health care professionals in developing countries. He and other U.S. doctors worked aboard a DC-8 that had been converted into a flying hospital. When he returned from a Project Orbis trip to Thailand in 1988, he told an Inquirer reporter that he had tried to teach Thai doctors the need to make young patients comfortable.

"You can get the information you want without the child being frightened," he said. "You have toys around and a movie on the wall to get them to look, instead of commanding them to look."

The recipient of several professional awards, Dr. Calhoun was cited for his modesty and caring when he received the Silver Tray Award from Wills in 2000. He was a past president of the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology. He was co-author of

A Child's Eyes

, chosen as the best medical book of 1999 by the American Medical Writers' Association.

Dr. Calhoun enjoyed sailing, tennis and bridge. He was a stickler for proper language and corrected the grammar of friends, family and his staff, his wife, Wendy Cowperthwaite Calhoun, said.

In addition to his wife of eight years, Dr. Calhoun is survived by daughters Lia Reinholt and Julia; stepchildren Andrew and Jennifer Fritz; and four grandchildren.

A life celebration will be at 4:30 p.m. tomorrow at the Merion Cricket Club, 325 Montgomery Ave., Haverford.

Memorial donations may be made to the J.H. Calhoun Fund, Wills Eye Hospital, 840 Walnut St., Philadelphia 19107.