Frederick Meserall, Haddonfield optician

During World War II campaigns in North Africa and Italy, Frederick G. Meserall ran an Army Medical Corps mobile unit, one of the first staffed by opticians.

Because it was often in combat zones, his unit provided eyeglasses to soldiers who, for instance, might have lost theirs while under fire.

His unit was at times not a safe haven.

On one occasion, perhaps in Algeria, his wife, Betty, said, shrapnel "went directly through the unit and destroyed a whole tray of eyeglasses."

Only the glasses were lost.

"He was in a foxhole in front," she said.

But the troubles of being in war zones still found him, she said, because in Italy he contracted malaria.

On Saturday, Oct. 15, Mr. Meserall, 96, of Mount Laurel, a former Haddonfield optician, died at Samaritan Healthcare & Hospice in Mount Holly.

A 1938 graduate of Trenton High School, Mr. Meserall worked for the Bausch & Lomb eye-care products firm in Trenton, learning to become an optician, his wife said.

After the war, he opened Meserall & Co. in Haddonfield, which later became Meserall Vision & Hearing there, run by his son, Frederick J.

In 1972, Mr. Meserall helped form, at Camden County College, the state's first science degree program for opticians.

At the time, his wife said, New Jersey began to require that opticians complete such programs, his wife said, "and there were none."

So she and Mr. Meserall, both opticians, went to New York state, learned how licensed opticians were taught there, and brought back their data.

Mr. Meserall was a member of the New Jersey Board of Ophthalmic Examiners and a member of state and national opticians' groups.

A former vice president of the Haddonfield Rotary Club, he was a member of Christ Presbyterian Church in Marlton, the Tavistock Country Club, and the Merchantville Country Club.

Asked what contributed to his longevity, his wife said, "He was an extremely active person all his life.

"He was a golfer, he played tennis, he did snow skiing, scuba diving, boating, fishing."

And, she said, after he retired in his 60s, he learned to play the saxophone to enjoy the music of the 1930s and 194s.

"He had a wonderful sense of humor," she said. "He enjoyed life."

Besides his wife of 52 years and his son, he is survived by two granddaughters and four great-grandchildren. He was predeceased by his first wife, Eileen.

A viewing was set from 9 to 11 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 20, at the Bradley Funeral Home, Route 73 and Evesham Road, Marlton, before an 11 a.m. funeral there, with interment in Brig. Gen. William C. Doyle Memorial Cemetery in Wrightstown.

Donations may be sent to www.samaritannj.org.

Condolences may be offered to the family at www.bradleyfhmarlton.com.

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