NEW YORK—Optometrist Tom Little, who headed an optometric field clinic in Afghanistan, was among 10 international aid workers who were killed on Aug. 5 in Afghanistan.

Little, 61, was originally from New York. He arrived in Afghanistan in 1976 with his family, and worked as an optometrist and manager at National Organisation for Ophthalmic Rehabilitation (NOOR), setting up clinics and ophthalmic workshops. According to the International Aid Mission (IAM) a Christian aid group affiliated with NOOR, Little was much loved by both foreigners and Afghans, and was the inspiration for other IAM team members coming to Afghanistan. Little is survived by his wife and three daughters.

In a press release issued this week, Dirk R Frans, executive director of IAM, said, “The work of the NOOR eye care program will certainly be affected as two of the four international staff are lost. Tom, the team leader of the eye camp, was the driving force behind much of what has been achieved in eyecare in Afghanistan. He is irreplaceable.”

According to IAM, the NOOR eyecare program was established to provide primary eyecare program in a needy area of Afghanistan in order to decrease the amount of preventable blindness. The program trained mid-level ophthalmic personnel who worked at day clinics near the city of Jalalabad that provided primary ophthalmic treatment, prevention of blindness education and referral advice.

Optometry Giving Sight was among the eyecare organizations that helped fund the NOOR program.