Long-time president of the Association of Optometrists Sir Eric Richardson has died at the age of 101.
He was AOP president, after a spell as vice-president, in 1984-95 and was earlier (1975-78) chairman of the General Optical Council.
In both cases he was appointed for his educational rather than any optical expertise, although ophthalmic optics was one of the main subjects at Northampton Institute, which later became London's City University, where he was principal in 1947-56.
After an electrical engineering apprenticeship Richardson worked as an engineer before getting a first-class bachelor of engineering degree in 1931 and a PhD in 1933 at Liverpool University. He then taught engineering at Hull Municipal College, was principal at Oldham Municipal Technical College and at the Royal Technical College Salford before nine years at the Northampton Institute.
His expansion of the institute and his raising of academic levels helped it gain the status of a College of Advanced Technology in 1957 and university status in 1966.
He later became director of the Regent Street Polytechnic (now the University of Westminster). In 1962 he was made a CBE and he was knighted in 1967.