Leaders We Lost in 2023: Dr. Charles Cozean

Editor’s note: As part of a year-in-review series, the Southeast Missourian is remembering some of the notable community leaders or public servants who died in 2023.

Charles Cozean Jr.

An innovative ophthalmologist who was the first to perform a certain type of cataract surgery and held a patent for a particular type of lens, died Jan. 9.

Dr. Charles Cozean Jr., according to previous Southeast Missourian reporting, was the first to perform cataract surgery in which a newly developed flexible silicone lens was implanted without having to remove the membrane behind the natural lens. It was deemed by colleagues to be an extraordinarily delicate operation.

"It was 8 p.m. and (Cozean) was at home enjoying dinner with his wife. I had seen a spray of small dark occlusions pass across the vision field of one eye," T. Robin Cole III told the Southeast Missourian earlier this year. "I rang him hoping he might give me his opinion. Instead of directing me to go to the emergency room, he dropped his knife and fork mid-meal to rush to meet me at his office. He preserved the vision in that eye. His patients cried when he retired."

Cozean was also known for his political activism, hosting events to support Republican candidates and causes.