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Dr. Henry Zeiter
Profile / Interview / Web search
Profile
"When I was in College, I used to be on my knees in the chapel begging God to
let me be a philosopher," says Dr. Henry Zeiter. "But my father said, 'you need
to get a life, then you can be a philosopher.'" Henry got a life. In fact, he
became one of the nation's foremost eye surgeons. And he also became a
philosopher. Nearly everyday, he goes home, turns on his classical music, reads
a little of John of the Cross, Teresa of Avila, or Thomas Aquinas, or dabbles in
watercolors. Some way to take a father's advice.
Henry was born in Serhel, five miles from the famous Cedars in the Kadisha
Valley, but his family roots were in Stockton, California. That makes him a true
American-Lebanese. In 1898, during the Spanish-American war, his grandmother
traveled there from Lebanon to peddle small goods so she could support her five
children back home. In ten years, she made enough money to be able to go back to
her family in Lebanon . One son wanted to be a poet. He was pumping gas one day
in Detroit when he realized "you can't make a living as a poet in the U.S." So
he became a successful businessman; but he sold out before the Depression and
went back to Lebanon where he became a recognized writer and gave the funeral
oration for the Arab world's greatest poet, Kahlil Gibran. He also fathered
seven children, the youngest of whom was Henry.
Henry went to school at both the Christian Brothers, and the Killieh al-Islamyeh,
both in Tripoli. In 1948, when Henry was 14, his family moved to Venezuela to be
near family. Henry graduated from high school at age 16, and his father sent him
to Assumption College in Windsor, Ontario, near other relatives. There he fell
in love with the Great Books and the philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas. It was
also where his father impressed upon him the need to do something practical with
his classical education.
So in his last year of college, Henry transferred to Western Ontario University
where he intended to go to medical school. Although he lacked the technical
course requirements to be admitted there, the University Registrar gambled that
his background as a liberal arts student (he graduated summa cum laude and spoke
eight languages) would be sufficient. It was
He excelled in medical school, graduated as a Wunderkind at age 23 (usual
graduation age is 27 to 30), and did his residency in Detroit in ophthalmology.
In 1962, he relocated to Stockton, California, where so many of his
grandmother's progeny were still living, and he became the founder and president
of the Zeiter Eye Clinic Surgicenter.
Henry's innovations in cataract surgery made him famous and soon
ophthalmologists from around the country were beating a path to his door to
learn about his techniques. Over the next 35 years, he would perform more than
25,000 operations for cataracts, glaucoma, corneal transplants, and other
disorders of the eye. He became widely published in refereed journals, belonged
to a host of prestigious medical associations, was elected President of the San
Joaquin Medical Society, and gave clinical training throughout the world.
But Henry always saw medical knowledge as a good that must be shared, not just
in the United States, but in poor areas of the world. For more than 15 years, he
served as a visiting surgeon with Orbis Eye Missions in the Far East, performing
eye surgeries and training local surgeons. He did the same in Bulgaria and in
his native Lebanon, where he worked with the head of eye surgery (Dr. Camille
Matta), and the American University to set up a surgical demonstration project
through the American University in Beirut. He then set up a charitable
association in Serhel, North Lebanon, to help cover medical supplies and
surgeries for indigent sick people.
But that is only half the story. While he was doing his residency training at a
Detroit hospital, he met Carol, a young nurse who was working towards her
master's degree in pediatric nursing education. He thought he'd test her mettle
by taking her to Verdi's Requiem on their first date. "It turns out she knew
more about it than I did," he said. She also told him about her penchant for
Thomistic metaphysics. On that first date, he pronounced, "I'm going to marry
you," as a true Lebanese would! She said, "You're crazy - you're not even in
love!" Of course they fell in love, and they did marry, and Henry uprooted Carol
from her native Detroit to Stockton, where they raised four children.
Together, Henry and Carol have established a Homeless Shelter in their names,
and they direct a charitable foundation that provides scholarships for needy
students. They were also the driving force behind the Stockton Symphony, the
Chorale, the Chamber Music group (which was on its way to bankrupsy, until they
undertook to put it back in the black), and they helped bring to Stockton a
weekly Maronite Mass.
In 1986, Henry was elected to the Board of Governors of Thomas Aquinas College,
where he serves as chairman of the Curriculum Committee. Two daughters, Suzie
and Camille, attended the College. Suzie, who graduated in 1987, married
classmate Tony Andres, who is head of philosophy at Christendom College in Front
Royal, Virginia. Their oldest son, John, practices ophthalmic surgery with
Henry; their other son, Phil, is an architect in Grass Valley, California.
-- Qtrly Newsletter, Spring 1999
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Interview with Dr. Zeiter:
Q. Have you always been serious about your faith?
Yes. I was born Catholic from the Maronite section of North Lebanon and can
trace my Catholicism to the Apostles. God has been most kind to me. I've never
doubted my faith. My most memorable day was my First Communion. And yet I
attended a Moslem school also, to better learn the classical Arabic of the Holy
Kur'an, and from the great Arabic poets.
Q. People say you live a highly structured life. Is that true?
I'm like Immanuel Kant in his daily walks at Koenigsberg. You can set your watch
according to my schedule. I rise at the same time, I pray at the same time, I
play tennis at the same time, I work at the same time. I even hit the same
boulevard intersections at the same time.
St. Thomas says, "To know is to order." I don't think you can lead a decent life
without being organized. No one should ever have to reinvent any wheel. I found
a schedule that works, and I try to stick to it.
I try to make time for leisure. Leisure is a wonderful thing. How can you listen
to Beethoven or Bach without thinking about God? How can you deepen your
spiritual life without having the chance for prayer and contemplation? You need
good books to live a good life. And you need time, so you can read good books.
And you only get time if you schedule for it. It's hard, I know, but you gotta
do it.
Of course, I realize that you have to make a living first. You just need to
realize that money is not that important. I can see it, love it, and dismiss it,
because I know that life is more important than a career. I've never seen a
U-Haul following a hearse. It's OK to be a capitalist but only so long as you're
a philanthropist.
Q. How did you find out about the College?
Completely providentially. When Suzie [my daughter] was in high school, she was
getting all sorts of college literature in the mail. One day I got the mail, and
I saw this Bulletin from Thomas Aquinas College. I opened it up and read it and
said, "This is a dream I'm having. This cannot be true. There is no such place.
But just in case there is, I'd like my daughter to go there." All I had to do
was see the courses and the books, and I could tell what it was all about
because I had done the same on a somewhat disorganized basis as an
undergraduate.
Q. You still keep up your reading?
Of course. I specialized in ophthalmology because it was limited to only one
organ in the human body. I knew I could master it quickly and then spend the
rest of the time with philosophy. I read constantly. I love St. John of the
Cross, St. Teresa of Avila, Etienne Gilson, and Garrigou-Lagrange. I love
Jacques Maritain's The Degrees of Knowledge, and Karol Wojtyla's doctoral
dissertation, Faith According to St. John of the Cross. What masterpieces! I
also love the Stoics. They make you patient with the turns of life. They are
calming. I need that. I'm an excitable person.
I just entered the Third Order of Carmelites and am really involved with St.
Teresa right now and with the rules of the Carmelite order. It's wonderful! When
I used to go to poor areas of the world, I never wanted to give them a fish; I
wanted to teach them how to fish (how to do eye surgery), and give them a
fishing pole to fish with (the instruments we took with us to use overseas).
Q. Why did you write your book, From Lebanon to California?
I am very proud of my Lebanese heritage, and I've remembered my happy childhood
in Lebanon more than any other period of my life. This is obvious as soon as you
start reading the book. I loved those years of freedom in Mount Lebanon. I tried
to make the descriptions authentic, yet colorful and musical. I graduated in
College with a major in English Literature, you know. If I don't translate the
book into Arabic, I hope a master of Gibran's language would do it in the not
too distant future.
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web search
Advertisement. "From Lebanon to California", a new dynamic and hard-hitting book. by Dr. Henry Zeiter, M.D. "I have been transported to Mt. Lebanon as I first knew it through this charming and remarkable book.www.dailystar.com.lb/headlines.asp
Groundbreaking Marks Milestone. Residence Hall to
be Completed by Start of 2004-05 Academic Year. (Winter/Spring 2004 Newsletter)
From left to right: Board member Dr. Henry Zeiter, President
Thomas E. ... introduced another benefactor for this project, Dr. Henry
Zeiter, a member of the College's Board of Governors ...thomasaquinas.edu/news/...
1. Doctors
- Zeiter Eye vision care, Stockton, CA
At Zeiter Eye we provide leading edge vision care using the latest techniques. ... Henry J. Zeiter, M.D., F.A.C.S. Dr. Henry Zeiter is a board-certified ophthalmologist with over 45 years of experience ...www.zeitereye.com/html/doctors.html -
Book - From
Lebanon to California
www.xlibris.com/FROMLEBANONTOCALIFORNIA.html.
You can contact the author at
drhenry@sonic.net
