His small lens business rose to global presence

Norman Wilson Edmund, 95, founder of Edmund Scientific in Barrington, Camden County, died Monday, Jan. 16, at Holy Cross Hospital in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

In 1942, Mr. Edmund began a mail-order business selling surplus and chipped lenses to camera hobbyists from a card table at his apartment in Oaklyn.

Seventy years later, his company, now called Edmund Optics, mails out 2.5 million catalogs to customers all over the world. Its optical products are used in a variety of applications, including DNA sequencing, retinal eye scanning, and high-speed factory automation.

The company has provided optical components for gun sights, night-vision equipment, drones, and military gear used by soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq, said Mr. Edmund's son, Robert, the firm's president.

Norman Wilson Edmund graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in Camden and then worked as a junior accountant while attending the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania at night.

In 1939, a few days after graduating, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis. During a long convalescence in Lakeland Sanatorium in Camden County, he renewed his interest in photography - a hobby from his Eagle Scout days. He bought a set of chipped lenses and converted them into a supplementary lens for his own camera.

He started his mail-order business after recovering. By the time he built a plant in Barrington in 1948, he had 30 garages filled with surplus optical merchandise.

He would tell people he was not a scientist, his daughter, Joan Husted, said. But he wrote simple how-to booklets for his customers and supplied them with instructions to build film projectors, cameras, telescopes, and other items, all with lenses supplied by his firm.

As available surplus parts were exhausted, Mr. Edmund built a machine shop in Barrington to manufacture duplicates.

He was excited in 1957 when the Russians launched the first space satellite, Sputnik I, because he knew this would mean new business, his daughter said.

After the launch, the U.S. government contracted with Edmund Scientific to produce satellite-spotting telescopes used at official observation stations around the country to sight the Russian satellite and future U.S. satellites.

Mr. Edmund opened an Edmund Scientific retail store in Barrington in 1952. The store displayed a World War II Japanese periscope, had a hall of funhouse mirrors, and sold a variety of scientific merchandise, including telescopes, binoculars, microscopes, fossilized rocks, glass beakers, and test tubes.

"The store was a reflection of his personality," his daughter said. She said people she has met frequently tell her what a good time they had there as children.

Astronomer Derrick Pitts told The Inquirer when the store closed in 2001: "Edmund was really a fun place to go.

There were always these unusual, arcane objects - the kind of neat things that a do-it-yourselfer could get to make things."

Edmund Optics has been headed for the last 37 years by Robert Edmund.

Mr. Edmund and his wife, Pauline, retired to Fort Lauderdale in 1975.

The couple met when he was a patient at Lakeland Sanatorium. She was the night nursing supervisor. They married in 1943. He taught her to keep the books for his fledgling business, and as the company grew she took charge of personnel.

After moving to Florida, Mr. Edmund and his wife continued to spend summers with their family in Ocean City until the late 1980s.

He was an avid deep-sea fisherman and a member of the Ocean City Marlin & Tuna Club.

Mr. Edmund was the recipient of the Silver Beaver award for his years of volunteer service to the Boy Scouts of America. He was past president and a member of the board of the Camden County Lung Association.

For his generosity and service to the community, the Borough of Barrington named Mr. Edmund citizen of the year in 1961, and in 1997 dedicated the Norman Edmund Wish Upon a Star Playground in his honor. For his activities in Catholic charities, he was appointed a Knight of the Order of St. Gregory.

In recent years, Mr. Edmund was focused on improving science education and published material about it.

He was at work until last week, his daughter said.

In addition to his son and daughter, Mr. Edmund is survived by six grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren. His wife died in December 2010.

A memorial will be held in Barrington in the spring.

Donations may be made to the Sisters of the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, P.O. Box 843, Bellmawr, N.J. 08099.