Edward F. Labuda, IEEE Life Fellow, passed away peacefully on 11 May 2025 at age 88. Ed graduated in 1955 as co-valedictorian with a B.S. in Physics from Case Institute of Technology, received a M.S. in Electrical Engineering from New York University in 1961, and a Ph.D. in Electrophysics from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn in 1967.
Ed joined AT&T Bell Labs in Murray Hill, NJ, in June of 1959, and after a 35-year career, retired as Vice President, AT&T Microelectronics and Chief Operating Officer of the Photonics Business Unit. His business unit responsibilities included marketing, product planning, finance, research and development operations in Breinigsville, PA, and Murray Hill, NJ, and manufacturing operations in Reading, PA, and Clark, NJ.
His technical and executive leadership work focused on fiber-optic devices, subsystems and associated passive components, silicon integrated circuit technology, imaging cameras for video systems, and gas lasers. He led the product development teams for fiber-optic transmitters, receivers, and other components used in the AT&T fiber-optic terrestrial network, including the first multi-gigabit-per-second transcontinental transmission systems and the initial AT&T Trans-Atlantic & Trans-Pacific fiber-optic cables.
In the 1960s, along with co-workers, he developed the continuous duty argon-ion laser. He pioneered the medical applications of this laser and, with Dr. F. L’Esperance of Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York, adapted the laser to successfully treat diabetic retinopathy, which, if untreated, is a leading cause of blindness in the world. The laser systems and techniques that were developed have been used to treat well over 100 million patients worldwide, in most cases preserving their eyesight. Ed was awarded 13 patents in the field of electronic devices, and he contributed 25 papers to the technical literature.
From 1994 to 1999, Ed served as Executive Director of the IEEE Photonics Technical Society, and through 2010, he served on the Board of Directors of several high-tech start-up companies. He received the IEEE Photonics Society Distinguished Service Award.
