By Danielle Beurteaux
Anyone who's ridden the subway in New York City recently has probably seen an ad campaign for the Eye-Bank for Sight Restoration featuring the late Jerry Orbach, best known for playing Detective Lennie Briscoe on the television show "Law & Order." The late actor donated his eyes to the eye bank, and two people were beneficiaries of his generosity.
Joseph D'Ambrosio, 51, president and chief investment officer of New York firm Ibis Management, which runs a long-short equity fund, is president of the Eye-Bank's board. While he doesn't have eye problems himself, he empathizes with those who face blindness because of eye disease. "The notion of vision maintenance for people who are facing loss of vision resonated with me," he says.
The organization was founded in 1944, making it the world's first eye bank. Since then it has benefited more than 55,000 people who have received transplants that meant the difference between sight and blindness. D'Ambrosio joined the board in 1997 and became its president in 2009. The Eye-Bank's central function is to collect and process corneal tissue, but it's also involved with research and outreach. A corneal transplant is now usually a quick outpatient procedure that takes one to two hours. The damaged cornea—the transparent tissue on top of the pupil and iris—is removed, and the donor tissue is put in place and attached with very thin sutures. Because there is no blood supply in the cornea, these transplants don't usually suffer from rejection as other organ transplants might.
D'Ambrosio, a wine collector who calls himself a value investor in wine, helped launch the organization's biggest annual fundraising event, a wine tasting that raises money for operating costs. He also thought the Eye-Bank's mission would benefit from exposure to social media, so the organization launched a Facebook page last fall. The group's page is full of touching stories posted by donor families commemorating loved ones who donated their eyes. "The donor family can tell a story about the donor: 'Mom always really wanted to do this, and somewhere out there, somebody can see clearly when they couldn't before because of Mom's decision,'?" says D'Ambrosio.
Patricia Dahl, executive director of the Eye-Bank, says D'Ambrosio has been fundamental in the organization's money management and in making sure the entire board understands investment decisions. "When things are complicated, he's very patient in explaining to the entire board," says Dahl. Asked how he would convince people to become organ donors, D'Ambrosio states a simple fact: You can't take your organs with you. "Imagine what it might be like to be blind and to the extent that this minor amount of tissue could restore sight to somebody else," he says. "That would be a wonderful legacy to your life."