Spectacular specs

If David Fleishman has his way, Pisa, Italy, will be known for more than just that famous leaning tower.

Fleishman, retired chief of ophthalmology and eye surgeon at Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton and a resident of Sharon, is creator of a website museum of all things eyeglasses, and he wants to make sure Pisa is recognized as the birthplace of vision aids.

''The first known glasses were known as rivet spectacles, and were developed by someone in Pisa around 1286," Fleishman said. ''Amazingly, Pisa doesn't even have a plaque to commemorate this, but hopefully we'll get one put up there for this most remarkable achievement."

Fleishman's website, www.antiquespectacles.com, sprang from his career but also his passion for glasses. After retiring four years ago, he began collecting antique eyewear, a dabbling that quickly developed a life of its own. The website was born in August 2003, the brainchild of Fleishman's eldest son, Andrew, who talked his father into tapping the Internet instead of following his first instinct, to write an academic paper.

The result is a multifaceted and fascinating site that includes, among many other things, nearly 1,800 images of antique glasses, a page for educational games about glasses, and a guide to identify your own old specs. There's even a section for famous quotes about eyeglasses, such as the fan mail from Thomas Jefferson to his optician: ''You have heretofore furnished me with spectacles, so reduced in size as to give facility to the looking over their top without moving them. This has been a great convenience."

Fleishman has visited about 140 institutions, such as small historical societies, to identify their collection. His most recent find, about which he talks with unrestrained delight, was a pair of leather-framed spectacles at the Groton Historical Society.

''The Smithsonian and the Museum of Vision in San Francisco, both with major collections, only have one pair of leather-framed spectacles between them, and tiny Groton has two," gushed Fleishman. ''That made my week; it made my month."

The website keeps growing, courtesy of nearly 500 individual contributors and more than 300 institutions. It is now in Fleishman's will that the site continue after his demise.

''They can sit with their family and wander through pages and pick up tremendous amounts of history and a deeper appreciation of the impact eyeglasses had on mankind," said Fleishman, who wears a pair of reading glasses with original lenses from the 1700s. ''Without them, the world would be very blurry."

GIVING MORE THAN WORDS: Kindergarten students at East Wareham Elementary School are helping others while they help themselves this year by joining ClassroomCare, a philanthropy-based literacy campaign by the Scholastic Book Clubs designed to teach children about the joys and importance of reading and giving.

Through Feb. 17, students in Darlene McQuade's morning and afternoon classes will be joining children across the country in reading 100 books, and in turn Scholastic Book Clubs will donate 100 (for a total nationwide donation of up to 1 million) new books to disadvantaged children across the country, including many affected by Hurricane Katrina.

''This year, both the morning and afternoon students have read 100 books, so we have been able to donate 200 books to help the Hurricane Katrina children," McQuade said.

LEADING LEO: Jen Levye, daughter of Marc and Judy Levye of Sharon, has been given the Leo of the Year Award for 2005. She is director of the Sharon Leo Club, which is sponsored by the Sharon Lions Club as part of the Lions Clubs International's youth program. She is also president of the Sharon High School Model United Nations Club, and a member of the National Honor Society and the Sharon High School Theater Company.

BUSINESS BRIEFS: Officials at Whole Foods Market, with a location in Hingham, have said the Austin, Texas-based company will donate 5 percent of its total global sales on Jan. 24 to the Animal Compassion Foundation, a nonprofit group created by Whole Foods a year ago. The foundation works to improve the lives of farm animals by serving as an interactive resource for ranchers, meat producers, and researchers to learn and share practices supporting the animals' physical needs, behavior, and well being. All money generated that day will go to research projects and on-farm experiments, not to the foundation's administration, Whole Foods officials said.

Soularium, formerly known as the Yoga Room, has opened at 362 Belmont St., Brockton. Owner Liza Keogh of Easton said the Soularium is a center for yoga practice and inquiry. Information is available at www.soulariumcenter.com.

Robin Nutter of Duxbury has been named director of development for the Plymouth Philharmonic Orchestra. She has worked with such organizations as the Duxbury Maritime School and the Ellison Center at the South Shore Conservatory in Duxbury.

Brian Anderson has been named general manager of the Hilton Garden Inn in Plymouth, which is scheduled to open in the spring. The hotel is owned by Linchris Hotel Corp.

Tara Jacobs of Walpole has received one of Riverside Community Care's Staff and Provider awards. Jacobs is assistant program director at Neponset River House in Norwood, one of Riverside's programs serving area residents. Riverside Community Care, based in Dedham, provides mental health care, developmental and cognitive disability services, substance-abuse treatment, and health and human services to more than 13,000 people a year.

Please e-mail your news to kandarian@globe.com.