ATHENS, Tenn.--Services were held here Feb. 9 for well-known optometrist W. David Sullins, Jr., OD, who died Feb. 6 at age 62.

A 1965 alumnus of the Southern College of Optometry (SCO), Sullins was a former president of the American Optometric Association and an inductee into the National Optometry Hall of Fame. He was deputy director of the Medical Service Corps until he retired in 1995, and was the first optometrist to attain the rank of rear admiral in the U.S. Navy, which he joined during the Vietnam War. Sullins was also president and chief of clinical services of Athens Eye Care Clinic here since 1991.

Sullins was awarded the honorary degree, Doctor of Ocular Science, by the SCO in 1989. In 2002, he received the college's highest honor, the Lifetime Achievement Award, presented for exemplary leadership skills and outstanding contributions to the profession and/or the college. His father, William D. Sullins, Sr., OD, received SCO's Lifetime Achievement Award in 1996, making them SCO's only father-and-son alumni to receive the award, according to the college.

In addition to his father, Sullins is survived by his widow, Leslie, as well as by two sons and five grandsons.