Fuji Optical Co., Ltd. Supports Optometry Students through Gala Sponsorship
Pacific University is proud to recognize Dr. Hiromasa Kanai OD ’07 and Fuji Optical Co., Ltd. for their support of student success through their $25,000 Diamond Sponsorship of the College of Optometry’s 75th Anniversary Gala. Proceeds from the gala, scheduled for Sept. 19, 2020, will benefit scholarships 
for current optometry students.
Dr. Hiromasa Kanai studied optometry at Pacific’s College of Optometry and is the current executive managing director of Fuji Optical.
“I offer my hearty congratulations on the 75th anniversary of Pacific University College of Optometry,” Kanai said in a statement. “I greatly appreciate that the college gave me an opportunity to study. The experience made me who I am today, and I would like to pass it forward to next generation as much as I can do.”
Fuji Optical Co., Ltd. was founded in 1939 on the northern Pacific island of Sakhalin, but was relocated to the Japanese island of Hokkaido after World War II. The company specializes in optometric eye care services dealing with the production of retail optical eyeglasses. Fuji Optical employs 570 people at 66 locations in northern Japan and in Sapporo on Hokkaido, and brings in annual sales of $78 million.
Fuji Optical CEO Dr. Akio Kanai, father of Dr. Hiromasa Kanai, joined his family’s company in 1973, and has led the company in becoming a leader in the field for its long-term humanitarian work providing vision care and glasses to refugees in Nepal, Thailand, Azerbaijan and Armenia through a partnership since 1984 with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). He received the UNHCR’s Nansen Refugee Award in 2006 for his humanitarian work and was the 2018 recipient of the Brien Holden Humanitarian Award by the American Academy of Optometry for his work delivering vision care to refugee communities for more than three decades.
“Dr. Hiromasa Kanai embodies what Pacific University College of Optometry stands for,” said Dr. Fraser Horn, interim dean of the College of Optometry. “He is one of many of our alumni who has gone on to lead within the profession and to give back to our community. I appreciate the generosity of Dr. Kanai, and we are honored to have this wonderful collaboration with one of our alumni and industry partners.”
The Pacific University College of Optometry traces its origins to the 1921 founding of the North Pacific College of Optometry. It became part of Pacific University and the Forest Grove Campus in 1945 and produces comprehensive practitioners with expertise in general optometry, contact lenses, low vision, vision therapy, sports vision, and ocular disease. This September, the College of Optometry will celebrate 75 years of focusing on pupils with a gala dinner to raise money for scholarships and recognize more than seven decades of visionary excellence on the Forest Grove Campus.