Skip to content
  • About Us
  • Our Team
  • In the News
  • Contact
  • Newsletter Sign-Up
  • Advertising
  • Testimonials
  • NewCanaanite.com
  • NewCanaanite.com
  • News
    • Around Town
    • Government
    • Public Safety
    • Schools
    • Opinion
      • The Grazing Ram
    • Obituaries
    • Sports
  • Real Estate
  • Business
  • There & Then
  • Our Animals
  • Podcasts
  • Events
    • Add Event
  • Who Knew?
  • Global Navigation
    • About Us
    • Our Team
    • In the News
    • Contact
    • Newsletter Sign-Up
    • Advertising
    • Testimonials

NewCanaanite.com - Big news for a small town: New Canaan, CT.

NewCanaanite.com (https://newcanaanite.com/tag/dr-rick-crolla)

  • News
    • Around Town
    • Government
    • Public Safety
    • Schools
    • Opinion
      • The Grazing Ram
    • Obituaries
    • Sports
  • Real Estate
  • Business
  • There & Then
  • Our Animals
  • Podcasts
  • Events
    • Add Event
  • Who Knew?
Subscribe

Dr. Rick Crolla

Dr. Rick Crolla

Podcast: New Canaan ‘Lifer’ Rick Crolla

By Michael Dinan | April 30, 2025

This week on 0684-Radi0, our free podcast (subscribe here in the iTunes Store), we talk to New Canaan’s Rick Crolla (here’s Laura Ault’s “Who Knew?” on him). It’s the third installment of our “New Canaan Lifers” series, profiling longtime residents of the town. Here are recent episodes of 0684-Radi0:

Barbara Crolla

‘It’s a Neighborhood’: Local Optometrist Marks 35-Year Milestone at New Canaan Eye Associates

By Michael Dinan | September 30, 2019

Dr. Rick Crolla’s foray into optometry began unexpectedly during a summer trip in the late-1970s to his in-laws’ cottage in Charleston, R.I.

He and his new bride—1971 New Canaan High School graduate Barbara Sawicky—were living in Boston at the time. They’d both earned bachelor’s degrees from Central Connecticut State University—she in early childhood and special education, he a secondary education degree in biology and chemistry. 

“The plan was we were both going to teach,” Crolla recalled on a recent morning. “But there were no jobs available when we graduated.”

So Crolla, thinking he’d need additional income to supplement his future pay as a teacher, spent three years earning a second bachelor’s degree, in pharmacy. Yet working as a pharmacist didn’t satisfy Crolla, who during one stint in Quincy, Mass. was held up by a man who pulled a sawed-off shotgun out of a Lord & Taylor bag. 

His father-in-law—Dr. Edward Sawicky, who had launched New Canaan Eye Associates on Elm Street in 1948—turned to him over cocktails at the cottage and asked whether he’d consider going back to school for optometry.

Most Popular

  • Board of Ed Hears Proposal for New ‘North Elementary School’
  • Roger Sherman Inn Property Sells for $3.7 Million
  • Pine-Grove Properties Sell for a Combined $9,250,000
  • Did You Hear … ?
  • Canoe Hill Road Antique Sells for $3,750,000

Subscribe to our daily newsletter

* indicates required

Events

« July 2025 » loading...
S M T W T F S
29
30
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
1
2
Thu 31

Songs of Summer

July 31 @ 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm

Most-Read Past Month

  • Affordable Housing: Judge Upholds Developer’s Appeal in Complex at Weed and Elm
  • Board of Ed Hears Proposal for New ‘North Elementary School’
  • Roger Sherman Inn Property Sells for $3.7 Million
  • Former New Canaan Baseball Player Selected in MLB Draft
  • Proposed Hotel Property Sells for $8.7 Million
  • Pine-Grove Properties Sell for a Combined $9,250,000
  • Town on Notice of Lawsuit After Pipe Bursts in Local Home
  • Here’s What’s Coming at Burtis and Cherry
  • Weed Street Home Sells for $2,080,750
  • Retired New Canaan Lawyer Turns To Fungi Farming

This Is Us

  • About Us
  • Our Team
  • In the News
  • Contact

Follow

Like Us on FacebookFollow Us on TwitterFollow Us on YouTubeFollow Us on InstagramSubscribe via RSS

Archives

Helpful Links

  • NewCanaanite.com
  • Town of New Canaan
  • New Canaan Public Schools
  • New Canaan Library
  • New Canaan Chamber of Commerce
  • New Canaan Police Department
  • New Canaan Fire Co. No. 1
  • New Canaan Land Trust
  • New Canaan Office of Emergency Management
  • New Canaan Nature Center
  • New Canaan Historical Society
  • Drug Free New Canaan

We Like

  • Darienite
  • Greenwich Free Press
  • Good Morning Wilton
  • The Monroe Sun

Our Newshounds

Our Newshounds

Dexter & Wallace

© Copyright 2025, Newshound LLC. Reproduction of material from any NewCanaanite.com pages without written permission is strictly prohibited. All rights reserved. Newshound LLC is a registered LLC in the state of Connecticut.

  • About Us
  • Our Team
  • In the News
  • Contact

Built with the Largo WordPress Theme from the Institute for Nonprofit News.

Back to top ↑