In Honor of Their Memory & Contributions to Our Field
Dear ESA members, Dear friends of strabismology,
I have the very sad news to announce that our past president John Sloper has passed away on October 19th 2025 – far too early. He died peacefully at home among his beloved family.
John Sloper was born in Dorset, entered St. Peter’s College, Oxford gained a BA in animal physiology and D.Phil. in neuroanatomy with a thesis on the primate visual cortex. He then studied clinical medicine in London but returned to Oxford and basic science for 10 years, focusing on neuroanatomy in amblyopia.
After his ophthalmological training in Cardiff, London, Belfast and Nottingham John started his Fellowship in Strabismology with Mr. Peter Felts and John Lee at Moorfields Hospital in London where he continued his career and was appointed a Consultant in 1996. He became an Honorary Consultant after his retirement in 2015. He was principal investigator of the UK multi-centre study of the natural history and surgery of intermittent exotropia in children. He was honoured with many national and international prizes and lectures.
John Sloper has always been an active member of ESA. And after only one year in the council was elected president in 2013. He stayed in office for a record 10 years: two terms and 2 extra years due to the corona pandemic. ESA was extremely fortunate to have him as president in these very demanding years. With quiet determination he not only organized 6 ESA conferences but also set up the EBO subspeciality exam in strabismus and paediatric ophthalmology as chair of the exam boards, introduced webinars with extraordinary worldwide attendance during the corona pandemic and the first joint ESA-ISA conference which was held online in Paris 2021. Finally, he was elected ESA Lecturer at the 2024 meeting in Toulouse.
He has inspired many young strabismologists to join ESA, encouraged us to get involved in the council and work for the future of the association and strabismus. We will all miss him and his kind advice which he was always keen to share.
He will be remembered as a great and honourable man, a very good friend, eminent president of ESA and a kind teacher. Our thoughts are with his wife Myra, his children and their families. May he rest in peace.
ESA-Council
Oliver Ehrt, Daniela Cioplean, Emmanuel Bui-Quoc, Helena Buch-Hesgaard, Andrea Piantanida, Pilar Gomez de Liano, Saurabh Jain, Mirjana Bjelos
