A University of Kansas alumnus and his wife have pledged $1 million to establish an endowed chair of ophthalmology at the KU Medical Center in Kansas City, Kan.

Luther L. Fry, who graduated from the KU School of Medicine in 1967, and his wife, Ardis, had previously donated $1 million to establish an endowed professorship to help attract top-rate faculty in the Department of Ophthalmology, which led to the hiring of Dr. John Sutphin.

Sutphin currently serves as department chair. KU said the additional gift will elevate that position to an endowed chair.

“Elevating the professorship to an endowed chair will hopefully encourage Dr. Sutphin to stay, and when he does retire it will be helpful in recruiting someone as good as he is for the next chair,” Luther Fry said in a news release from KU.

Luther Fry grew up in Montezuma, in southwest Kansas, and earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics in 1963 before going to medical school.

Ardis Fry grew up near McPherson and earned a nursing degree from Bethany College in Lindsborg in 1965.

The couple eventually settled in Garden City and established Fry Eye Associates, which now includes a part-time optometrist and three full-time ophthalmologists, including the Frys’ son, Eric Fry, who graduated from the KU School of Medicine in 2003 and completed his ophthalmology residency in 2007.

Luther Fry is widely recognized for his development of the technique for small-incision surgery in treating cataracts, KU said. His practice specializes in ocular pathology and cataract surgery.

“The training I got at KU and the Department of Ophthalmology allowed me to do very well in my private practice, and we want to give a little of that back,” Luther Fry said.