Alex E. Krill: a brief biography of his life and final days

At the time of his death in 1972 at 44 years, Alex E. Krill had an established reputation as an authority on the topic of inherited retinal and choroidal dystrophies. He lived to see the publication of the first volume of his two volume textbook on Hereditary Retinal and Choroidal Diseases but perished in an airline crash before the completion of the second volume of this text. Although Dr. Krill had completed a substantial portion of the material for this second volume, the publication of a second volume would unlikely have resulted without major additional efforts from two of his colleagues Drs. Desmond Archer, Belfast, Northern Ireland, and August Deutman, Nijmegen, the Netherlands. This work is a testimonial to the scope of Alex Krill's knowledge of various retinal disorders and their proper investigation and classification by electrophysiologic and psychophysical procedures. It is also a lasting tribute to his memory by two generous and devoted colleagues.