Admiral James D. Watkins was considered an "unlikely hero" after he was named his retirement in 1987 to achieve what many considered impossible - to lead a Council divided and besieged the presidential AIDS.
A former chief of naval operations, Watkins was deeply religious Roman Catholic father of six who was once called to the military ban on gays "good policy". But he was also known as an independent thinker and analytical.
When asked by the Reagan administration to formulate a national strategy to address the AIDS epidemic, the UN Commission under the direction of the new Watkins, the release of a report of 1988, which was widely praised for his ambitious health initiatives and compassion.
"It was a time Jim Watkins," Admiral William J. Crowe Jr., then head of the Joint Chiefs, told the Times in 1988. "He learned everything he could about it, analyzed and then divided into manageable areas. It's just the sort of thing does so well."
Watkins, 85, who was energy secretary to President George HW Bush, died Thursday at home in Alexandria, Virginia had been in declining health in recent years, said his brother, John.
After taking charge of the Secretary of Energy in 1989, Watkins has launched the first program to clean up nuclear plants in the national energy legislation and led to the administration.
Bush acknowledged that the choice Watkins in part because of a background in the field of nuclear energy, which includes a command to Admiral Hyman Rickover of the, who led development of Navy propulsion nuclear in early 1970. The two grew close, and when he died in 1986 Rickover Watkins gave the eulogy.
"The Navy has changed," said Watkins Times in 1988. "Rickover had a strong interest in participating with the best and brightest, and went hard .... I do understand the importance of education and do everything possible to measure the potential that God has given."
In the Department of Energy, Watkins has also developed a 10-point plan to strengthen environmental protection and waste management activities at the agency, and instituted the policy to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil. He left the place in 1993.
During his naval career of 37 years, stood up to go to a naval officer and was known for developing a maritime strategy to deal with the Soviet Union and to improve the lives of those who serve in the Navy and their families, according to Jonathan Greenert, chief of naval operations.
"Watkins was an innovative thinker," said Greenert, "which made our Navy forward."
The sixth of seven children, David James Watkins was born March 7, 1927, at home in Alhambra.
His grandfather, George Clinton, Ward was president of the Southern California Edison in 1930, and his father, Edward Francis Watkins, owned by Southern California Wine Co. and grew grapes in what is now San Marino. After losing his ranch during Prohibition, the father went to work for Edison.
James Watkins said that when his mother, Louise, was a woman of 30 years before his time. In 1938, he unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination to the Senate.
After receiving a bachelor's degree from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1949, Watkins acted in submarines during the Korean and Vietnam wars. In 1958, he earned a master's degree in mechanical engineering from U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey.
In late 1970, Watkins was the commander of the 6th fleet in early 1980 and served as Commander in Chief Pacific Fleet.
At the Pentagon, was known as a free country, if conservative, the spirit that has been dubbed "Radio Free Watkins."
"He was strong. If you say something, you'd better have done his duty," said John, who is his last surviving brother and lives in Pasadena. "I heard, but it is better to know what were talking about."
In 2001, Watkins has started another presidential commission chaired, with the mandate to establish a comprehensive national ocean.
3 years later, the grim report of the U.S. policy on the Sea has nearly 200 recommendations to President George W. George W. Bush. Including asking the government to reduce pollution and control development in the coastal waters of nurses patients back to health.
"All agree that the oceans are in trouble," said Watkins Times in 2004, referring to the 16 panel members. "We know that if you do not move now, in 10 years may not recover."
In 1950 he married Sheila Jo McKinney, the daughter of an admiral. Her career, later said, to follow her husband around the world and raising six children, often only while moving 32 times during the year the Navy. He died of cancer 67 years in 1996.
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