Dr. Charles Williamson, above, and Gino Marino.

August 2011. Visionaries: How a new eye procedure sheds light on an old vision problem.

Gino Marino and Dr. Charles Williamson go way back.

Back in the early seventies, long before Marino was a well-known restaurateur and Williamson was a respected ophthalmologist, Marino was a running back in college for Southeastern and Williamson was an Academic All-American tight end at LSU.

“I knew Gino and his family when he was a star running back at Southeastern,” says Williamson, “His entire family had emigrated from Italy and Gino had an entire cheering section of Italians with small Italian flags which they would wave after every touchdown he scored.”

“Chuck had played quarterback in high school but was an All-American tight end at LSU,” recalls Marino. “Chuck went on to medical school, and his entire family became eye doctors. We’ve remained close over the years.”

And as it would happen, the careers that each chose would bring them together again.

“About twenty years ago, Gino came to me saying that he had a lot of trouble seeing at a distance,” recalls Williamson, noting that was a particular concern for Marino since in the restaurant business, he needed to be able to recognize the customers as they came in the door. “At that time, the procedure of choice was Radial Keratotomy.  He was one of the first people to undergo that procedure and I was able to correct his distance vision so that he could see without glasses or contacts.”

“I think everybody is certainly nervous during eye surgery,” confides Marino, “but with all the years of experience that Chuck has, I certainly felt confident in his hands.

“I know he developed many of the techniques for cataract surgery and refractive surgery that are done in the world today.  He became a visionary in his specialty after he started the first outpatient surgery center for eye surgery in the area, and has always been the first whenever a new or exciting procedure would come out.”

Add Comment