In 1972, Dr. Marvin Poston was the first African American named "Optometrist of the Year" by the American Optometric Association, the highest professional award from the AOA.
VSP is known for quality service – whether providing eyecare to underprivileged through our number of charitable programs, ensuring patients have access to high-quality vision services or providing doctors with the tools they need to maintain successful private practices. This dedication to service can be directly attributed to the core philosophies of VSP’s founders, one of whom was Dr. Marvin R. Poston.
In 1935, Dr. Poston was the first African American student admitted to the study of optometry at University of California, Berkeley. It took another 23 years for the second African American student to follow in his footsteps and graduate from the Berkeley School of Optometry. Dr. Poston later became the first African American licensed to practice optometry on the West Coast.
Nearly 55 years ago, Dr. Poston, along with several of his fellow optometrists, formed California Vision Services, now known as VSP Vision Care. The company originally was the first to offer a prepaid, vision benefit that provided high quality, cost-effective eyecare. VSP has since grown to become the largest not-for-profit visions benefits provider in the nation, covering 1 in 6 Americans.
Dr. Poston’s optometry practice flourished for four decades in Oakland and Danville, California but his reach extended far beyond those who visited his offices. Befitting one of the founders of a company that prides itself on community support, Dr. Poston began his own tradition of community outreach by establishing vision-screening programs for under-served children and adults. The Children’s Vision Center of the East Bay, the West Oakland Health Group and the East Bay Skill Center are just a few of the organizations that benefited from his efforts.
Dr. Poston received numerous honors during his career, including the Optometric Man of the Year award by the Alameda Contra Costa Optometric Society and Optometrist of the Year by the California Optometric Association and the American Optometric Association. He was also appointed to three terms on the California State Board of Optometry by governors Edmund G. “Pat” Brown and Ronald Reagan. In each of these areas, Dr. Poston was the first African American ever to be honored.
“He was a man of great integrity,” says Norm Jacoby, O.D., a former colleague from Encino, California. “He was very soft-spoken and intelligent, and you listened when he spoke. Marvin was conscious of what new graduates needed when getting started in private practice and that they needed all the help they could get.”
This awareness led Dr. Poston to start Optometric Planning Service (OPS), a company that gave young optometric students access to the resources necessary to start their businesses properly. OPS evolved into Professional Health Management & Planning Services, Inc., which provided services for professionals new to a variety of healthcare fields.
After more than 40 years in optometry, Dr. Poston and his wife, Arlene, relocated to Calistoga, California to open Poston Crest Vineyard. As with his practice, Dr. Poston received recognition for his success as a vintner. In 2004, Wine Business Monthly featured him in an article about diversity in the industry titled “The Changing Face of the American Wine Industry.”
Dr. Poston is remembered as a generous individual and contributor to the success of VSP. “Dr. Poston’s passion for people and their vision is still alive in VSP’s corporate mission, values and the efforts of every doctor,” said Gary Brooks, VSP Vision Care’s president. “Through outreach programs such as VSP Mobile Eyes® and Sight for Students®, we continue his legacy of commitment to the community.”
After a satisfying life filled with professional and personal accomplishments, Dr. Poston died July 18, 2002 in St. Helena, California. He was 87 years old.
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