Morris Frank
The Seeing Eye — co-founded in 1929 by Nashville’s Morris Frank with author and dog trainer Deborah Eustis — is the world’s leading trainer of guide dogs for the blind. Established here in Nashville, the organization has sought to “increase the independence and dignity of people who are blind,” according to The Seeing Eye’s founding credo.
Morris Frank was born in Nashville on March 23, 1908, the youngest of John and Jessie Frank’s three sons. John was a highly successful manufacturer, owner of Frank & Company, which made custom shirts and sold Stetson hats. His mother had been blinded in an accident, and from a young age, the young Frank helped guide his mother around their home.
Frank lost the sight in his right eye at age 6 after scraping it against a tree branch while riding a horse. In a cruel twist of fate, he lost the sight in his left eye at 16 after being punched during a boxing match with a friend.
Frank was a top student at all-boys prep school Montgomery Bell Academy before matriculating at Vanderbilt. He hired local men to guide him around the Vanderbilt campus and around town, but he became frustrated by his dependency on others. In November 1927, while he was a student at Vanderbilt, Frank read a Saturday Evening Post article about a school in Germany that paired blinded war veterans with dogs who guided them through their daily lives. The article was written by American Dorothy Eustis, who operated a dog training school of her own in Switzerland.
Frank wrote Eustis a letter expressing his interest in visiting her school and acquiring a guide dog — and moreover, bringing the idea of guide dogs to the United States. In February 1928, Eustis called Frank and invited him to her school, Fortunate Fields, located near the village of Vevey, Switzerland. At the time, Fortunate Fields worked primarily as a trainer of police dogs, but Eustis accommodated Frank as he learned to work with a guide dog. Frank trained at Fortunate Fields with a female German shepherd he named Buddy. Holding Buddy by a harness, Frank spent weeks with the animal, learning to maneuver through the town of Vevey with the help of Eustis and another dog trainer named Jack Humphrey.
On June 11, 1928, Frank made a widely publicized return to the U.S. with Buddy, demonstrating what he and his companion could do for an assemblage of New York reporters. The next day, images of Buddy guiding Frank across a busy Manhattan street appeared in newspapers across the continent.
Frank sent Eustis a one-word telegram: “Success.”
The publicity helped Frank and Eustis kick-start The Seeing Eye, which would breed, raise and train guide dogs. The organization also trained blind people on how to work with and care for the dogs. The Seeing Eye also went on to educate the general public on guide dogs while advocating for the right to use guide dogs in public spaces. Initially, all “Seeing Eye dogs,” as they were known, were German shepherds. The organization later added Labrador retrievers, golden retrievers and related crossbreeds to their kennel.
The Seeing Eye was established in January 1929 in downtown Nashville’s Fourth and First National Bank Building. Eustis served as president, and Frank served as managing director. In 2008, Nashville erected a plaque at the site honoring the organization’s achievements. The inscription begins with the organization’s credo: “Independence and Dignity Since 1929.”
According to The Seeing Eye, in the century since, the organization has matched nearly 20,000 dogs with people.
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In 1931, Frank moved the school to northern New Jersey, regarding its cooler climate as superior for breeding and training dogs. In 1965, The Seeing Eye established its current headquarters in Morristown, N.J., which includes a kennel, training school, veterinary research center and clinic, and the organization’s administrative offices. The Seeing Eye is now the world’s longest tenured organization that trains guide dogs.
Frank served as the company’s managing director from 1928 until 1956. He spent much of his time traveling the country and teaching people about Seeing Eye dogs. He also advocated for the blind in state legislatures across the nation. By the time of Frank’s retirement in 1956, every state in the union had passed laws allowing for guide dogs in public places.
When Buddy died in 1938, obituaries in papers across the U.S. mourned the original Seeing Eye dog. Every dog Frank owned for the rest of his life would also be named Buddy.
After retiring from The Seeing Eye, Frank authored a book about his life with Buddy titled First Lady of the Seeing Eye. Disney released a made-for-TV film about Frank and Buddy in 1984 called Love Leads the Way: A True Story.
Frank died in 1980, but his legacy of independence and dignity lives on in the countless lives he and Buddy helped impact.
