Shirley & Ed Stark

Ed Stark, an electro-optical research engineer, internationally known leader in Near Infra-red spectroscopy, and an inventor with twenty-three U.S. patents, worked first for Sperry-Rand Corporation. Here his boss asked him what he knew about infrared? “Nothing but I am willing to learn”. Mastering all of military IR to date, he became instrumental in developing the Sperry Electro-Optics Group, home to the world’s first “ring laser.” Subsequently joining Technicon Instruments Corporation, a major manufacturer of clinical and industrial laboratory equipment, he spearheaded the development of near infrared filter and scanning instruments for the analysis of both agricultural (grains and processed foods) and industrial (petrochemical and pharmaceutical) materials.

At Technicon, he met and married Karen, who circuitously arrived in near-infrared spectroscopy after finishing BA, MS and PhD degrees in organic chemistry followed by Post Docs at Hebrew Univ., and then at YU under Jeremy Musher. In 1973 Jeremy and Evi Musher Schecter found her an apartment on the Upper West Side, and provided her first dining room table. Finding university teaching unsatisfactory she tried industry, managing the analytical departments at International Playtex and then managed Technicon’s Near Infrared Applications department.

After leaving Technicon, Ed and Karen devoted time to consulting, teaching, and promoting acceptance of Near Infrared Spectroscopy as a standard analytical technique, being paid to travel to over forty different countries. Ed founded both the Council for Near Infrared Spectroscopy (CNIRS) and the International Committee for Near Infrared Spectroscopy (ICNIRS). Together they formed two near infrared based analytical instrument corporations, KES Analysis, which designed and manufactured diode array spectrophotometers, and Bionir, which researched the non-invasive through the skin measurement of glucose for diabetics.

Among other avocations in the 60s and 70s, Ed served as treasurer for LI CORE, co-founded the Bi-County Alliance of Health Consumers and started The Exceptional Family, which supported parents of developmentally disabled children. Ed has also been a choral singer for more than 60 years, the last dozen years with Nashir!, The Rottenberg Chorale based in Merkin Hall.

At LSS, both Ed and Karen worked with Rabbi Berman to design, and supervise the assembly of vandal-proof “gates” to close off streets to create a “walled city” for the original West Side Eruv. Together with Mark Wald, they organized the first LSS security committee. For the past 11 years Ed has been involved with the new building, providing engineering knowledge and institutional memory of design features and flaws while troubleshooting current building projects and repairs.