"He made drinks sparkle, desserts shimmer, and Richard M. Nixon look less shadowy—all with meticulous tricks of lights." So begins an obituary for Imero (or "Immie") Fiorentino, the man who was called "the maestro of lighting" and "The Picasso of lights and strobes."

Because he usually worked quietly behind the scenes, most Americans have never heard of him. But when Fiorentino died at the age of 85 on October 1, 2013, he had served as an adviser to every president from Dwight D. Eisenhower to Bill Clinton. His work had illuminated some of the biggest entertainers of his day, including Frank Sinatra, Bill Cosby, Neil Diamond, Barbara Streisand, and Muhammad Ali. He orchestrated the lighting behind everything from Walt Disney's Epcot Center to TV commercials for Jell-O and ginger ale.

But if it wasn't for the encouraging words from one of his high school teachers, Mr. Fiorentino's career may have ended before it started. The New York Times records what happened:

Several months before graduating from high school, he found what he thought was an empty shell casing in the street. Wanting to make it into a key chain, he took a soldering iron to it. It was a live round. Shrapnel from the explosion pierced his right eye, blinding it. He despaired of being able to work in lighting. Then one of his teachers, visiting him in the hospital, told him, "You're going to be the best one-eyed lighting designer ever." "I can do that," Immie replied.

Due to those words of encouragement, Mr. Fiorentino went on to earn a bachelor's degree in theater from Carnegie Tech in 1950. On graduating, he was hired to teach theatrical lighting at Indiana University, and from there his career took off.