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

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

, and author, the son of statistician A. Ross Eckler. He served in the US Army from 1946 – 1947. He received a BA from

Swarthmore College Swarthmore College ( , ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the e ...

with High Honors in 1950 and a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in mathematics from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

in 1954.

Biography

While at

Bell Labs Nokia Bell Labs, commonly referred to as ''Bell Labs'', is an American industrial research and development company owned by Finnish technology company Nokia. With headquarters located in Murray Hill, New Jersey, Murray Hill, New Jersey, the compa ...

(1954–1984), Eckler co-authored ''Mathematical Models of Target Coverage and Missile Allocation'' with Stefan A. Burr. 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 (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 or nom-de-plume 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 name may be used to make the author's 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 kin ...

and

supercentenarian A supercentenarian, sometimes hyphenated as super-centenarian, is a person who is 110 or older. This age is achieved by about one in 1,000 centenarians. Supercentenarians typically live a life free of significant age-related diseases until short ...

research. Eckler disproved exaggerated age claims such as those of Charlie Smith and George Fruits while authenticating others such as Delina Filkins (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 (New Hampshire), White Mountains in New Hampshire, it has expanded throughout the northeastern U.S., wit ...

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 starting in 1996. He was also an active recreational caver starting in 1952; he joined the National Speleological Society 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 musical keyboard, keyboard and consists of at least 23 bells. The bells are Bellfounding, cast in Bell metal, bronze, hung in fixed suspension, and Musical tuning, tu ...

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

Works

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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