Raymond Joseph Sever

SEVER, Raymond Joseph, 78, passed away at his home in Temple

Terrace, Fla., Tuesday,

November 30, 2010, under the care of LifePath Hospice. Dr. Sever was born in Miami, Fla., September 5, 1932, third of ten children. He grew up in Hialeah, Fla., attended Edison High School in Miami, and graduated from Eastern Nazarene College in Wollaston, Mass., with a degree in chemistry. He received a master' s degree in chemistry from Harvard University in 1955, and a Doctor of Medicine degree from University of Miami in 1960. After his internship at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, he was commissioned as a lieutenant in the U.S. Naval Medical Corps and served at the Naval Air Development Center at Johnsville, Pa., working with centrifuge project training Mercury astronauts for the U.S. space program. Following his naval stint, he completed his training in ophthalmology in Miami, becoming chief resident at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute. He joined the faculty at University of Florida Medical School for 2 years and then established a private practice in Temple Terrace for general eye care with specialty in diseases of the retina and retinal surgery. He formed a partnership with Dr. Henry Ramseur and they established a practice that continues today as The Florida Eye Center. He earned distinctions in his field for many innovations in the treatment of eye disease including the development of fluorescin angiography and the gratitude of many for his successful treatment of patients suffering from macular degeneration. He is survived by his wife, Janet Duwelius, and their son, Ben; his two daughters by his first marriage, Grace Hinton and Claire Sever; sons-in-law, Stephen Hinton and Jeff Bunkin; and three grandchildren, Hannah, Tess and Harry. In addition, he is survived by his brothers, J. Stanley, Herbert, Glenn, Theodore, Thomas and Harry; and sisters, Margaret Martin and Mary Lou Sever. He was predeceased by his parents, John and Margaret; and brother, William. A memorial service will take place at 4 p.m. Tuesday, December 14, at Temple Terrace United Methodist Church, 5030 Busch Blvd., followed by a celebration of life reception immediately after at Temple Terrace Country Club, 200 Inverness Ave. Memorial donations may be made to Moffit Center Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer, UTC-Found., 12902 Magnolia Drive, Tampa, FL 33612 or Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, 900 NW 17th St., Miami, FL 33136, in honor of Raymond J. Sever.