Albert Ross Eckler Jr. (August 29, 1927 – December 9, 2016) was an American logologist,

statistician A statistician is a person who works with theoretical or applied statistics. The profession exists in both the private and public sectors. It is common to combine statistical knowledge with expertise in other subjects, and statisticians may wor ...

, and author, the son of statistician

A. Ross Eckler Albert Ross Eckler (May 22, 1901 – March 14, 1991) served as Deputy Director of the United States Census Bureau from 1949 to 1965, and its Director from 1965 until 1969. He was the first career employee ever to become director of the agency. ...

. He served in the US Army from 1946 – 1947. He received a BA from

Swarthmore College Swarthmore College ( , ) is a private liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the earliest coeducational colleges in the United States. It was established as ...

with High Honors in 1950 and a

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper ''Piled Higher and Deeper'' (also known as ''PhD Comics''), is a newsp ...

in mathematics from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the n ...

in 1954.

Biography

While at

Bell Labs Nokia Bell Labs, originally named Bell Telephone Laboratories (1925–1984), then AT&T Bell Laboratories (1984–1996) and Bell Labs Innovations (1996–2007), is an American industrial research and scientific development company owned by mult ...

(1954–1984), Eckler co-authored ''Mathematical Models of Target Coverage and Missile Allocation'' with

Stefan A. Burr Stefan Andrus Burr (born 1940) is a mathematician and computer scientist. He is a retired professor of Computer Science at The City College of New York. Burr received his Ph.D. in 1969 from Princeton University under the supervision of Berna ...

. Eckler was the publisher and editor of '' Word Ways: The Journal of Recreational Linguistics''. In 1996 he published a book on logology entitled ''Making the Alphabet Dance. Recreational Wordplay''. He was also the author of ''The National Puzzlers' League, The First 115 Years,'' a history of the

National Puzzlers' League The National Puzzlers' League (NPL) is a nonprofit organization focused on puzzling, primarily in the realm of word play and word games. Founded in 1883, it is the oldest puzzlers' organization in the world. It originally hosted semiannual conventi ...

(NPL). He and his wife Faith were married for more than 50 years, and were former NPL editors under the collective

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

"Faro" (with variant forms "FAro" for Faith and "faRO" for Ross). Eckler's hobbies were

genealogy Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kins ...

and

supercentenarian A supercentenarian (sometimes hyphenated as super-centenarian) is a person who has reached the age of 110 years. This age is achieved by about one in 1,000 centenarians. Supercentenarians typically live a life free of major age-related diseases ...

research. Eckler disproved exaggerated age claims such as those of Charlie Smith and

George Fruits George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presiden ...

while authenticating others such as

Delina Filkins Delina Filkins (née Ecker; 4 May 1815 – 4 December 1928) was an American supercentenarian, and the first person verifiably to reach the age of 113. Noted during her own lifetime for her advanced age in the local and national press, she lived a ...

(1815–1928). He was an avid hiker, leading hikes for the

Appalachian Mountain Club Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) is the oldest outdoor group in the United States. Created in 1876 to explore and preserve the White Mountains in New Hampshire, it has expanded throughout the northeastern U.S., with 12 chapters stretching from Ma ...

between 1978 and 1997, a member (and trail maintainer) of the

New York–New Jersey Trail Conference The New York – New Jersey Trail Conference (NYNJTC) is a volunteer-based federation of approximately 10,000 individual members and about 100 member organizations (mostly hiking clubs and environmental organizations). The conference coordin ...

and researched portions of the

Lawrence Line The Lawrence Line was a boundary line or partition line drawn through the Province of New Jersey during the colonial period, dividing it into the Province of West Jersey and the Province of East Jersey. The line was created by surveyor John Law ...

starting in 1996. He was also an active recreational caver starting in 1952; he joined the

National Speleological Society The National Speleological Society (NSS) is an organization formed in 1941 to advance the exploration, conservation, study, and understanding of caves in the United States. Originally headquartered in Washington D.C., its current offices are in H ...

in 1957, and became a life member in 1962. From 1963 to 1965 was editor of Speleo-Themes, the Northern NJ Grotto publication. He served as the

carillonneur A carillon ( , ) is a pitched percussion instrument that is played with a keyboard and consists of at least 23 cast-bronze bells. The bells are hung in fixed suspension and tuned in chromatic order so that they can be sounded harmoni ...

at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Morristown, New Jersey from 1964 to 1988 and was a member of the

Guild of Carillonneurs in North America The Guild of Carillonneurs in North America (GCNA) is a professional association of carillonneurs in North America, dedicated to the advancement of the art, literature, and science of the carillon. It was founded in Ottawa, Canada, in 1936 by A ...

. He died on December 9, 2016, at the age of 89.

Works

* * * *

References

External links

The National Puzzlers' League

Military Operations Research Society
1927 births 2016 deaths American statisticians American male writers Carillonneurs Princeton University alumni Swarthmore College alumni Word Ways people Writers from Boston Hikers {{US-mathematician-stub

Biography

Works

See also

References

External links