In Memoriam: Dr. Stanley Sol Schocket

Stanley Sol Schocket passed away on June 24, 2025, in Baltimore, Maryland, at the age of 90. 

Dr. Schocket earned his BS degree at the University of Maryland, College Park, before attending the University of Maryland School of Medicine and earning his MD in 1959. After completing his residency and retina fellowship at the St. Louis City Hospital and the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, Dr. Schocket returned to the University of Maryland School of Medicine as an Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology in 1968. He was appointed as Associate Professor in 1973, as Professor in 1993, and also served as Clinical Professor from 1993 through 1994. Dr. Schocket opened his private practice, Eye Consultants of Maryland, in 1994 and served the Baltimore community until his retirement in 2016. He returned to the Department of Ophthalmology from 2016 to 2019 as a volunteer faculty member, providing care for veterans at the Baltimore VA Medical Center and continuing to share his ophthalmic knowledge with the department’s residents. 

Dr. Schocket served in many leadership roles at the School of Medicine during his career, including as Interim Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology in 1987 and again from 1990 through 1991. He also served on the Executive Council and Executive Committee of the School of Medicine, and on the Board of Directors of the University of Maryland Medical Faculty Foundation, among other roles.

Among his many recognitions, in 1990, the Who’s Who of American Inventors listed Dr. Schocket in recognition of his developing the anterior chamber tube shunt to an encircling band (ACTSEB) device to treat neovascular glaucoma. Dr. Schocket also invented the Schocket scleral depressor, double-ended, that is given out to all ophthalmology residents. He was named Best Retinal Specialist in Maryland by his peers in 1991. Dr. Schocket is most known for the care he gave to his patients surgically and medically for over 50 years in Baltimore City and County. He saved vision with compassion. He loved to spend time chatting with patients, all while providing the best care possible. 

Dr. Schocket is survived by his wife, Dr. Cecilia Schocket (UMSOM class of 1970), and his children, Deborah and Lisa Schocket, and grandchildren. His daughter, Dr. Lisa Schocket, is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the University of Maryland School of Medicine

More details on services and contributions in the memory of Dr. Stanley Schocket are available here.