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Founders

photo montage of faces of CNIB founders

Charles Dickson

Dr. Charles Dickson was born in Kingston, Ontario in 1858 and was the oldest of CNIB founders. A graduate of Queen's University, he had an illustrious medical career as a pioneer in X-ray technology and was head of that department in Toronto General Hospital. He lost his sight in 1908, at age 50, as a result of an early X-ray experiment that went wrong. Dr. Dickson served as the first president of CNIB.

He was also awarded the King's Medal and was made a Knight of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem for founding the Canadian branch of the St. John's Ambulance. Dr. Dickson died in 1938, while serving as vice-president of CNIB.


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CNIB, one of Canada’s oldest and most respected charities, celebrates 90 remarkable years in 2008. Since 1918, CNIB has been dedicated to independence and self-determination for Canadians with vision loss. Today it is Canada’s primary provider of vision support services and also works to safeguard the vision health of all Canadians.