bullock was known as an inspired teacher and mentor. more than 100 scientists passed through his laboratory as postdoctoral fellows and research associates. from 1949 to 1999, bullock was the primary adviser for 36 graduating phd students (17 at scripps), and in 1982 he retired as a professor emeritus. however, retirement could not stop him from remaining at the forefront of comparative neuroscience. at the age of 88 bullock re-established a modeling study on nerve-nets, and built a model that accurately predicted the input-output relationships for a range of different stimuli. bullock maintained an active research laboratory and continued studying the anatomy and physiology of the nervous system up until his death, 20 december 2005.