Edward L. Steckler Jr. ’48

Ed was born Feb. 1, 1927, in New York City. After attending the Lawrenceville School, he entered Princeton in November 1944, but left college to volunteer in India with the American Field Service, returning to graduate in 1948.

Ed attended law school at NYU and was briefly a staff attorney at the National Broadcasting Co. while staying active in New York Republican politics during the John Lindsay years. Ed and Joan Abajo were married in 1960 and had three daughters before divorcing in 1982.

Subsequently, Ed and Patricia Cobb became life partners and went into business together. They were avid and prominent collectors and dealers in antiques and “decorative accessories,” including silver and glass, antique pottery, and porcelains. (In our class’s 50th-reunion book, Ed described their professional and artistic specialties.) Ed and Pat traveled widely in the United States and internationally, especially to antiques shows, auctions, and sales. Their home base in recent years was in Ann Arbor, Mich., where Ed died Dec. 23, 2015, at age 88.