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In May, Wilfred “Fred” Hansen was elected the 20th Fellow of the Optical Society of Southern California, a Local Section of the Optical Society of America in recognition of his 50 years of support and service to the Society and to the Southern California Optical Industry. Fred was awarded a lifetime membership, Fellows badge and plaque at an induction ceremony during the October 9th meeting of the OSSC in Fullerton, California, attended by Fellows Al Shurkus, George Matter, and Tom Godfrey. Fred was the Society’s Golf Chairman twice in the 1980’s but has served in that capacity every year since the early 1990’s; during that time he has raised thousands of dollars for the Society’s golf tournament prizes. He was also a Councilor in 1967-68. All twelve past Presidents who responded to a poll by Historian and Fellows Chairman Godfrey strongly supported this recognition of Hansen;
One of the past Presidents wrote:
"Fred Hansen has a record of distinguished work in the field of optical fabrication in Southern California. He has started multiple businesses and served the local optical community well. Our Engineering Service group would often recommend OIC for fabrication services (especially for systems with tight component wedge tolerances which OIC seemed to be particularly adept at holding)."
"His dedicated service to the society via the OSSC golf tournament is quite substantial. Fred has an extremely long track record of active participation. Although he has not served the OSSC as President, the fact that he did serve on the board cannot be discounted."
"I believe that if you combine his long active participation (including as Corporate Sponsor & Councilor), his dedicated service as OSSC Golf chairman for so many years, and his local reputation for excellence in optics manufacturing, he is very qualified for this honor."
Hansen has attended OSSC meetings since 1953 when Gene Thorburn, later a business partner, was Society President. Beginning in 1947, Fred worked for McCulloch Motors while attending USC majoring in Business Administration; after graduation he was the accountant responsible for Pacific Optical Corporation and two other subsidiaries. In 1956 with Thorburn and others, Hansen bought Pacific Optical Company. From 1961 to 1963 he was President of Hayward Scientific Glass; he then teamed with Thorburn and others to found Optical Instruments Corporation in Buena Park, California. OIC was sold to Sigma Corporation in 1985, while Fred continued to run the company. In 1991, Fred bought the optical equipment and founded Optical Instrumentation Corporation, which he sold and retired in 1999.
Those companies were prominent in the local optics industry. Hansen’s companies were always OSSC Corporate Sponsors. Fred posted meeting notices and encouraged employees to attend. One of those employees, brought into the Society by Fred in 1980, Peter Nance, became President in 1998-99.
Read Fred Hansen’s Detailed Biography
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