CooperVision history

Gordon, who renamed the company Gordon Contact Lenses, Inc. in 1965, was renowned for his expertise in rigid lens design, but his most celebrated work involved the development of soft contact lenses.

In 1970, Union Corporation purchased Gordon’s company, creating a new company named UCO Optics.

After an extensive development phase, UCO Optics used its proprietary tetrafilcon to unveil its Aquaflex brand in 1976, the third soft contact lens to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

CooperVision was incorporated in 1980.

In 1981, Montgomery was in the midst of orchestrating a mammoth deal: two acquisitions that would transform Cooper Labs into a billion-dollar conglomerate essentially overnight.

Again, Cooper Labs teetered on the brink of collapse, its interest expense rising to $25 million, or 65 percent of the company’s 1982 operating profit.

As part of a strategy that Montgomery called “Project Supernova,” parts of two subsidiaries were sold to the public in 1983.

In 1985, the company expanded its product line to include the Permalens, Permaflex, and Aquaflex brands.

In 1987, CooperVision, Inc. changed its name to The Cooper Companies, Inc. and organized into three groups: Cooper Technicon, CooperSurgical, and CooperVision.

Montgomery stepped down in August 1988, leaving a company he had started 30 years earlier.

CooperSurgical was formed in 1990, the year it acquired Frigitronics, a technology company that produced an assortment of gynecological and ophthalmic products.

Thomas Bender joined Cooper Companies in 1991 as its new chief operating officer.

In 1993, the subsidiary purchased CoastVision, Inc., a manufacturer of toric lenses.

The decision to divest HGA stripped Cooper Companies of roughly $50 million in annual revenue, but Bender, named chief executive officer in 1994, wanted to sharpen the company’s focus exclusively on medical devices.

In 1998, CooperSurgical made further advances when it introduced “Cerveillance,” a device the company developed that enabled physicians to document, store, and retrieve digital images of cervix examinations.

In March 1999, CooperVision received regulatory clearance to market lenses in Japan.

Crabtree, Penni, “Irvine, Calif.-Based Contact Lens Maker Eyes Its Options,” Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News, January 18, 2000.

In 2004 CooperVision acquired Ocular Sciences Inc., a company that manufactures three different contact lenses: Biomedics 38, Biomedics 55 and Biomedics 55 Premier.

In 2012, this rebrand was one of five companies to win the "Best of Awards" by REBRAND.

In August 2014, CooperVision completed the acquisition of Sauflon Pharmaceuticals Limited, a UK based manufacturer of daily disposable silicone based contact lenses.