Dr. Henry Zeiter
Profile -- (from the Spring 1999 Newsletter)
[interview below]
"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 is Lebanese, but his family roots were in Stockton,
California. 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. She made
money, retrieved her family from Lebanon, and settled in the
region. One son wanted to be a poet. He was pumping gas one
day when he realized "you can't make a living as a poet
in the U.S." 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.
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, and did his residency in Detroit in ophthalmology.
In 1962, he relocated to Stockton where so many of his secondary
family were living and 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 30,000 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 the medical society and the American University
to set up a surgical demonstration project through the American
University in Beirut. He set up a charitable association in
one of the villages 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."
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. But Carol never was idle. While
her children were in school, she obtained a Masters in Counseling
and Psychology from the University of the Pacific and then
launched a 20-year career as a Marriage, Family and Child
Counselor. She retired last October, having counseled thousands
of people on the gamut of life's most troubling issues. She
would often reap the fruits of her efforts when people would
stop her years later and say, "You're the one who saved
my marriage."
Carol also found time to polish her tennis game and is part
of a ranked area doubles team that is undefeated this year.
(She has a 4.0 rating which she says she struggles to maintain:
"At my age, I'm only going to get worse!") She is
past president of the Stockton Symphony League, of which she
has been a long-time member, and has been active in the Girl
Scouts, the Child Abuse Prevention Council, and the Chamber
of Commerce.
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 Chorale and Chamber Music
group, which was on its way out until they undertook to bring
it back.
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 now teaches 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
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.
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.
But I knew the only way I could get her to go there was to
say nothing. My daughters are notoriously stubborn. So I never
said anything about it. Then Suzie says, "Daddy, there's
this College called Thomas Aquinas - you know, my confirmation
name - and I want to look into it." I said, "Oh,
that's nice, dear." And then I said to myself, "Oh,
thank you, thank you, Lord!" Then, Tom Susanka [the Admissions
Director] came for a visit, and the rest was history.
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.
ston's nine-volume set on the History of Western Philosophy,
and I go through that all the time. I just finished Introduction
to the Devout Life by Francis De Sales for the fifth time,
and it is wonderful! I also try to get through Pope John Paul
II's prayers and devotions and Self-Abandonment to Divine
Providence by De Caussade. That self-abandonment stuff is
a hard thing to do for an active guy like me, but it's absolutely
critical. It was a present to me from Ron McArthur. He thought
I needed that. God bless him!
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!
Q. What do you see in the future of the College?
It's going to stay around for a long time because the need
for it is extreme. Anybody who recognizes the value of the
College can't possibly work enough for it or give enough money
to it to keep it going. These young people are going to be
very important in the re-Christianization of the United States.
It's the only College that teaches Western culture in its
totality and that's important because Western culture and
Catholicism are inseparable.
When I used to go to poor areas of the world, I never wanted
to give them a fish; I wanted to give them a fishing pole.
I think the same thing is going on at the College. It's a
place that teaches people how to fish.
Q. What is the biggest challenge presented to the College?
A present challenge and a future challenge. The present challenge
is to have enough money to keep going and to finish building
buildings. The future challenge is to stay on course and to
not get diluted with newfangled ideas.
I love Thomas Aquinas College. I just love it. I love everything
it stands for. How can I not help them? It stands for everything
I ever believed in.
-- Qtrly Newsletter, Spring 1999
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