An Open Letter of Legacy through Every Lens for Dr Robert 'Bob' Sanet
Aug 07, 2025
Let me start by saying that wherever words arise, gratitude flows and follows.
My heart and head still feel heavy after receiving the recent update on the health of someone whose impact on my life and the lives of countless others cannot be measured in mere words.
Dr Robert ‘Bob’ Sanet is more than just a colleague.
More than a mentor.
More than a leading figure and master of Behavioural Optometry.
He is a colossus of with a gentle presence.
A visionary in his field.
A storyteller with scientific precision.
A teacher who wraps clinical wisdom in heart, humour and humanity.
To say he shaped my professional path would be true but incomplete.
Bob hasn’t just shaped my profession. He has shaped me into the person, the vision therapist, the heart-led human I am today.
In saying that… my heart is beyond grateful.
Grateful to have walked this path during your lifetime, Bob.
Grateful for the extraordinary privilege of learning from you, sitting in your presence, and being held in the orbit of your brilliance.
Grateful to be on the receiving end of your quirky humour, fierce advocacy, impeccable standards and your unwavering belief in the possibility and potential within every human being.
Your legacy is a living one.
It echoes in every clinic, every classroom, every consultation where Behavioural Optometry is practiced with heart and soul.
It lives on in all of us who were lucky enough to learn from you.
I was quite literally born into the world of Behavioural Optometry with mum being back in practice just one week after bringing me into the world.
Mum often spoke of a brilliant San Diego-based optometrist named Dr Robert Sanet.
For years, you were a name spoken with awe.
A figure larger than life.
A standard in the field.
A mentor whose teachings changed everything.
While most babies are rocked to sleep by lullabies, I was held by the hum of a metronome, entertained by the colours of looking through red-green glasses, playing with the beads on a Brock String and a Marsden ball swinging above me.
From a young age, I knew your name.
Your teachings travelled across oceans and into our home—echoing through dinner conversations, practice stories, patient musings and quiet, reflective moments.
I was raised on Hart Charts, crocodile swimming and stories of you.
A teacher held in reverence.
A man whose influence was felt long before we ever met.
And now…
You are not just “Dr Sanet.”
You are Bob.
You are a friend, a teacher, a soul of wisdom.
You are someone I deeply respect and carry with me every single day.
You are a colleague, a mentor, a friend.
What a privilege it is to walk this path with you in my story.
What an absolute gift it has been to learn from your legacy and feel the heartbeat of your work in my own.
There are moments in life and in every profession that call for sacred reflection and reverent pause.
Today is one of those moments.
A moment to soften.
A moment to bow in gratitude.
A moment to reflect.
A moment to honour.
It’s a moment to speak legacy aloud.
To make space for the tears.
To remember.
To bless the path you walked and the paths you made possible for others to walk too.
I will always remember the first time we met in person.
Thank you, Bob to you and your incredibly skilled wife, Linda for opening your home, your hearts, your fridge (yes, that jar of Vegemite will always be remembered by this family from Australia!) and your lives to so many of us from all around the world over the years.
Now that I am a vision therapist, I am honoured humbled to be putting your teachings into practice every single week with patients of all ages, all ability levels, all labels and all stories.
Because of you, I meet each person with eyes of compassion and curiosity.
Because of you, I know that vision therapy isn’t just about seeing clearly
It’s about seeing deeply.
It’s about seeing deeply.
Thank you for the light you share.
Thank you for the legacy you live.
Thank you for calling me your little calamari.
It’s more than a nickname.
It’s a timestamp of love, belonging and the beautiful ripple effect of your presence.
As a young girl on my first trip to America I was excited for our first lunch together as they had a creature comfort from home on the menu …… Calamari.
You looked at me, smiled with that signature sparkle in your eyes, and said,
“Well, aren’t you just my little calamari.”
Something about that moment made me feel… seen, known and loved.
Even now, I still hold that nickname with both hands because names like that don’t come from nowhere.
They come from presence. From playful knowing. From connection.
It was the first time we met face to face.
I was just a young girl, far from home, attending a professional gathering in a place that felt completely new.
When lunchtime rolled around and I chose calamari of all things, you turned to me and said those words.
That name stuck.
Not because of the food but because of the feeling.
The feeling of being welcomed.
The feeling of being embraced in a circle far greater than myself.
A moment of deep connection.
Playful love. Heartfelt presence.
Bob, that is who and what you are.
A connector.
A connector of people, of hearts, of brains and bodies, of past and present, of science and soul.
You have impacted the lives of so many that are near and far.
Within behavioural optometry and beyond.
Through your words, your wisdom, your laughter, your lectures and most of all your way of being.
Though miles away, I had the privilege of attending the Sanet Series remotely.
Virtual yet fully present, and deeply immersed from a distance.
Even when the seminars began at 1am Australia time, I showed up with staff because once you started speaking, time melted away.
The clock became irrelevant.
Your presence alone shifted something.
You held the room (both virtual and in-person) with warmth, wisdom and something unnameable but unforgettable.
You created safe space.
Invited open dialogue.
Taught from lived experience and decades of devotion.
You made the science of vision feel like sacred storytelling.
No matter the procedure or principle, you had a way of making the complexities of the visual system and of life feel tangible, heart-led and rooted in real human connection.
That is a gift not taught in textbooks.
You created a space where truth was shared freely.
Where laughter and learning were equally important.
Where no question was too silly and no condition too complex.
Where clinicians, parents and therapists alike felt welcome, seen and deeply valued.
Where “aeroplane rides” mid-thought were welcomed by all.
Even when your mind took to the skies, you always found your way back. Landing with grace, grounding the message, the magic and the moment.
Not for their neatness or logic, but because they lifted us into realms where the mind wandered and the heart followed.
Moments where a single idea, word or feeling would catch a gust of curiosity and soar, and all of a sudden we were no longer where we started.
We enjoyed them because:
✈️They carried us to unexpected places where the soul meets story and insight strikes like lightning.
✈️They were signs that we were thinking freely rather than being boxed in by grids, outlines or rigid paths.
✈️They mirrored the way the brain dances with connection
✈️They made space for magic and meaning to drop in precisely because we were not trying to control the destination.
✈️They honoured the truth that the most important thoughts are not always the ones we plan but the ones we stumble upon while flying.
They were welcomed detours.
The thought tangents that whispered “this matters too.”
We didn’t just tolerate those mental flights, we trusted them because they always brought us somewhere real.
You made complexity feel like clarity.
You made high-level neurophysiology feel human.
You made us all better because you reminded us that real care is always and I mean always heart-led.
Vision is much more than sight.
Vision is love and light in action.
Vision isn’t just a brain-and-eye process.
Vision is life.
Vision is love.
Vision is legacy.
Your Golden List will forever be a staple in my life.
In the Vision Therapy room.
In my passion projects.
In the hearts of the clients, patients and colleagues who benefit from it.
Our job as Behavioural Optometrists and Vision Therapists is not to fix our patients.
Our job is to see them.
To witness them.
To guide them toward seeing their world in new and empowering way that invite clarity, confidence, connection, curiosity and courage.
You have impacted the lives of thousands both within and beyond the field of Behavioural, General and Neuro-Developmental optometry.
In every talk. Every email. Every conversation.
Every hug, every module, every Golden List and every misaligned set of eyes you gently helped realign with compassion and care.
As a vision therapist, I am now honoured to bring your teachings into the room.
Not just the procedures, but the presence.
Not just the techniques, but the tenderness.
Not just the diagnostics, but the dignity we offer every patient we see.
Your Golden List is more than a tool.
It’s a philosophy. A way of seeing. A way of remembering that our patients are more than their prescriptions.
They are stories.
Souls.
Miracles in motion.
Vision doesn’t just come through the eyes. It comes through the brain, through relationships and through love.
In your own words, you always said “our job is not to fix our patients. It’s to see them.”
Once we see them, I mean really see them…..
We help them see their world with new clarity.
We help them recognise faces with joy.
We help them read with confidence.
We help them drive, dance, dream and dare.
We help them see possibility.
We help them see themselves.
Because you know I love language and linguistics Bob it would be ‘slack’ of me not to include a proper tribute in the shape of something word-woven.
So here it is.
An acrostic.
An ode to your name and your nature.
Reimagined what it means to truly see
Offered wisdom and opened hearts as well as minds with each lesson
Believed in the potential of every patient knowing that behind every procedure, there is a pulse of purpose.
Elevated and Empowered clinicians and patients alike
Remembered the uniqueness of every being, every name, every story
Taught with science, soul and stories transforming each space he entered
Brought the best out of people and vision to life—literally
Originator of the golden list and golden heart overflowing with insight and intention
Balanced brilliance with deep compassion while bridging continents, clinics and communities.
Saw beyond symptoms and shared knowledge
Activated generations of practitioners and advocated for the journey of each individual
Nurtured the human behind the diagnosis and the growth that comes through patience
Elevated everything he touched with elegance, energy and a presence that evoked excellence in all of us.
Taught us with conviction that Behavioural Optometry and Vision Therapy is a calling, not a career
This is more than just words and an acrostic list.
It’s a legacy.
A living reminder that vision is love and love is vision.
Bob you have embodied that with every breath.
I know I’m not the only one with aeroplanes still circling high above that are waiting to touch down, to transform, to transcend.
Your presence whether IRL (as the younger generation says), in a Zoom room, in a story, in a quiet moment between procedures will always be remembered.
You have left fingerprints on our hearts and timelines.
You have embedded love into our clinics, our conversations and our core beliefs.
Your little calamari is all grown up now and if I can impact the world even a fraction of the way you have as a human and as a vision therapist I will feel proud, fulfilled and deeply blessed.
If this chapter of your earthly existence is truly drawing to a close, please know this— from the core of my being and the sacredness of my skeleton:
Your life may be nearing its final chapter…but your story is far from over.
It is infinite.
Your legacy lives on and will continue to.
In our clinics, offices and practices.
In our standards.
In the whispers of encouragement we offer to patients who are yet to believe in themselves.
In every choice we make to lead with heart, to teach with truth, to love without limits.
You haven’t just shaped a profession.
You have shaped generations.
You have given us more than we could ever return.
You have left fingerprints on our hearts—not just our hands.
Your teachings live on in every session.
Every patient breakthrough.
Every wide-eyed child learning to read, write or move with grace and ease.
Every tear of relief from a parent who finally feels seen.
You are in our emails.
Our metaphors. Our laughter. Our light.
You are in our hugs.
You always will be.
At the end of your recent letter to colleagues and community, you wrote: “Remain in frequent contact with Linda. She will need a lot of ongoing comfort, love, and support.”
This was more than just an expression of love.
It was a call to action.
A living vow.
A sacred instruction.
An invitation to carry your light.
To tend the flame you lit within us.
In the past fortnight, I have lit candles.
I have whispered your name to the stars.
I have spoken your name like a prayer.
I have sent strength.
Called in legacy.
Held space.
Shared memories.
Invited others to join me in sending light and love.
You and your beloved Linda deserve to feel every ounce of the compassion, care and kindness you have so freely given to the world.
You deserve to receive the same love you have spent your life pouring into others.
You both deserve to be held in the very tenderness you so effortlessly offered again and again.
We will rise as beacons of brilliant light and love so that your legacy can burn even brighter.
Guiding us.
Reminding us…
That presence is everything.
That love is the ultimate prescription.
That vision, when taught with heart, can heal the world.
I love you, Bob (in a platonic way, of course)
With radical reverence, with a humbled heart, with oceans of gratitude, with sacred softness, with tremendous love and a few tears… (Okay, you caught me, a whole tissue box worth of tears.)
I honour you.
To know you is to be changed by you.
To walk in your footsteps is to find one’s own path.
A path with more light, more joy, more reverence for the human spirit.
Your little calamari is all grown up.
If I can impact the world the way you have as a human, a vision therapist, an intuitive wellness guide, a student to life and a soul-led clinician then I will know, without a doubt that I have lived well.
You didn’t just teach us to see.
You taught us to be.
Thank you for that.
For all of it.
For you.
With tears in my eyes, a candle in the window and a heart full of gratitude—
We will rise, Bob.
We will serve.
We will soften.
We will uphold sensational standards and speak our truth with compassion.
Because of you.
With you.
For you.
Always.
Your Little Calamari,
Hannah
💛 🐙
