ERIC MARDER Obituary

MARDER--Eric, 1925-2018. Founder and Chairman of Eric Marder Associates, Inc., a market research and consulting firm; innovator of Choice Research, a path-breaking approach to market research, presented in his book, "The Laws of Choice" (Free Press, 1997). Eric Marder was born in Vienna and came to the United States via Italy in 1939 with his parents Moses and Pepi and his younger brother Herbert. He graduated from City College, and was a graduate student at Columbia University where he was introduced to empirical sociology. He taught physics at Ithaca College, the University of Rhode Island, and Rutgers University before leaving academia to pursue his interests in Decision Research in the private sector. Marder shared a lifelong friendship with the Holocaust historian Raul Hilberg, the author of "The Destruction of the European Jews" who credited Marder with adding penetrating insights at every stage of the landmark study. In 1960 he founded Eric Marder Associates, Inc., a company which flourished for five decades. Marder's artistic talents included a large body of paintings and the design of several of his residences. He was widely admired for his charismatic storytelling which is evident in his memoir "Turning Aside to See" (2011) and "The Book of Lark and Mole" (2012), a collection of magical tales. For much of his adult life he was passionate about running and, in his sixties, he completed three New York City marathons. He is survived by his wife, Barbara, three children, Eve (Arthur Wingfield), Efrem (Marit Cranmer), Elissa (Geoffrey Bennington) from his first marriage to the photographer, Dorothy Marder, two step-sons, Simeon Manber and Gurion Manber, his brother, Herbert, sister-in- law, Norma, nephews, Michael and Yuri, five grandchildren, Gabrial, Darius, Ursa, Benjamin, Abraham, four step-grandchildren, Hannah, Emma, River, Cody and three great-grandchildren, Asa, Ezra, Nova. A funeral service was held at the Temple Covenant of Peace in Easton, Pennsylvania on Sunday, December 30, 2018. A memorial is planned for Spring 2019. In lieu of flowers, contributions to the St. Luke's Hospice, of the Visiting Nurses Association of St. Luke's, 240 Union St. Plaza, Bethlehem, PA 18105 would be welcome.

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Published by New York Times on Jan. 2, 2019.

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A.T. Grant

April 26, 2019

I just ran across this quote and thought of Eric's policy to hire scientists who had never worked in marketing research.

"He who knows nothing is closer to the truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors." Thomas Jefferson

So sorry to learn today of his death. I worked for Eric for 14 years. Eric had a huge impact on my life in the most wonderful ways. As he would say of himself "I might not be valid, but I'm always reliable!" How true. We had 'internal Eric' who was the Eric we carried around in our heads, able to hear what he would say if he were there to respond. We could, and would, roll-play Eric.

As I went into the world of quantitative market research later on, I discovered that the experimental approach to study design was sadly rare. But the quantification of qualitative research was quite common. No wonder he liked to hire people, like me, with training in scientific research methods and no experience in marketing research. It's obvious why I thought of him when I ran across that Jefferson quote.

RIP Eric. You were a great mentor!

Patricia Danielle

March 14, 2019

Wish we could all stay forever. Wish I could have gotten to know him better. Worked at Eric Marder Associates 1983-1988. It was fun!

Paul Jellinek

January 4, 2019

A brilliant man, Eric was always kind to me during my adolescent years while at the same time challenging me intellectually, through our conversations and through long games of Go. I will miss him.

alice deres

January 3, 2019

Much love and condolences to the Marder family from the Maria Sereghy family...i have many fond memories of going to the house on white-tailed road with my mom Maria who was your housekeeper--i as so inspired by Eric's knowledge and talent--maybe that's why i became an artist and teacher---He was a instrumental as was your mom in shaping my interests to pursue the arts--He had a wonderful life and will be missed by all who had the privilege of knowing him---r.i.p.