DENVER, CO--(Marketwired - April 14, 2015) - The Rocky Mountain Lions Eye Bank announced today the naming of the Lion Jack and Christine Nisselius Eye Bank Annex in recognition of the couple's contributions to the eye bank over the past 10 years. The annex is a 1,600 square-foot, state-of-art facility where the eye bank's technicians can prepare donated eye tissues for specialized, sight-restoring transplants as well as to develop new techniques of corneal preservation and preparation.

Jack Nisselius, who died in 2012, and his wife, Christine, were active members of the Gillette Lions Club for over 60 years. The Lions are sponsors of the eye bank and its mission to fulfill the wishes of eye donors to help others overcome blindness through transplantation and research. Jack Nisselius was a long-time editor and publisher of the Gillette News-Record.

Edmund Jacobs, the eye bank's executive director, said the Nisselius family's contributions have made a big impact on the nonprofit eye bank. "We work in an environment where we face increasing costs of medical supplies, transportation and regulatory compliance. Having support from the community in the way Jack and Christine Nisselius have done is vital to our sight-saving mission."

Judy Tenney, the Nisselius' daughter, recalled her parents' life-long dedication to fighting blindness. "I can remember as a young girl that my father was very involved in the fund raisers for the Lion's mission of fighting blindness," Tenney said, "He and my mother, Chris, were always committed to financially supporting the Lion's mission. It is a great honor for my mother and our family to have the eye bank's annex named after them. The 'corneal transplant research' done at the annex is such a scientific advancement that my parents and their generation would never have dreamed possible. What a blessing that many can have their eyesight aided in this way."

The Rocky Mountain Lions Eye Bank is the nonprofit agency responsible for the recovery of donated eye tissues from organ donors in Colorado and all of Wyoming except Uinta, Sweetwater and Lincoln counties. Its mission is to fulfill the wishes of eye donors and their families to help others overcome blindness through transplantation and research. In 2014, the eye bank's 2,069 eye donors restored sight to 1,930 people through cornea transplants.

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