Arlington Heights doctor defied odds his whole life

Throughout his life, Dr. Oswald Olivier defied the odds.

Not only did he escape his native Haiti during the reign of Francois “Papa Doc” Duvalier, but he also attended medical school in his late 40s and then settled his family in Arlington Heights in 1968, one of only a few black families there at the time.

Olivier died Jan. 30. He was 90.

“His life is a testimony that you can accomplish anything,” said his daughter, Dr. Mildred Olivier, who founded the Midwest Glaucoma Center, based in Hoffman Estates.

Olivier began his medical career as a technician at a clinic operated by the World Health Organization and the Haitian Health Department.

He came to the U.S. in the mid-1950s, following the lead set by his future wife, Solanges, who was completing a nursing rotation at Cook County Hospital. With their native country in chaos, Olivier encouraged her to stay.

They married in Chicago in 1959, and after their three children were born, the couple moved to Canada to be immersed in the French culture and be close to Olivier's sister.

However, Olivier himself returned to Chicago to attend medical school, driving back and forth on weekends to be with his family in Canada.

He ultimately decided to move the family back to the Chicago area, but he had certain criteria, his daughter said, beyond living close to a Catholic school and a hospital where his wife could work.

“He wanted to make sure we would be in a safe neighborhood, where the race issue would not be a problem,” Mildred Olivier said.

They settled in Arlington Heights, where Solanges Olivier began a long career as a nurse at Northwest Community Hospital, and her husband worked at Charter Barclay Psychiatric Hospital in Chicago, running its labs and health clinic.

Ed Goldberg, the retired CEO of St. Alexius Medical Center, worked at Charter Barclay with Olivier from 1984-1989.

“He was an incredible individual, who did so many different functions for us,” Goldberg said. “He was the lab director, head of employee health and head of central supply. He was involved with everything.

“He never complained,” Goldberg added. “He was always respectful and looked distinguished, with a gentle voice and a French accent. It was a pleasure and honor to work with him.”

Nearly every year while the children were young, the couple would bring the family back to Haiti to visit relatives and experience their native culture.

But the couple also worked to sponsor Haitians coming into the United States, and they helped them find work once they arrived, their daughter added.

“That's where I got some of my humanitarian side,” Mildred Olivier said, “because I saw my parents, all those years, doing so much for other people.”

When she opened her private ophthalmology practice at St. Alexius Medical Center, her father, by then retired, helped with administrative duties in her office and greeted patients.

Nearly from the start of the practice, Oswald Olivier began leading medical missions to Haiti, as many as twice a year, to provide vision screenings and restore sight to poor residents with cataracts.

“My father was an inspiration to so many people,” Mildred Olivier said, “but he was always deeply committed to the well-being and improvement of the Haitian community.”

Olivier was preceded in death by his wife, Solanges. Besides his daughter, he is survived by his sons, Ernst A. Olivier and Oswald J. (Linda) Olivier Jr.