Edgar Villchur Passes
Edgar Villchur died this morning in his sleep in Woodstock NY. He was 94.
(Pls forward this as appropriate.)
Memorial service this Sunday in Woodstock; I will be attending w/ Roy
A.
Edgar Villchur, 1917-2011
Edgar Villchur died in his Woodstock home on Monday, October 17,
2011, at the age of 94. He was an inventor, educator, and writer. His 1954
invention of the acoustic suspension loudspeaker revolutionized the field of
high-fidelity equipment, providing better bass response than was previously
possible, at the same time radically reducing the size of the cabinet. He
received a patent for that invention as well as for the dome tweeter, which
greatly improved the ability of loudspeakers to reproduce accurate high-end
sounds. His AR-3 speaker is on display in the Smithsonian Institute's
Information Age Exhibit in Washington DC. Acoustic Research (AR), of which
he was president from 1952 to 1967, manufactured high-fidelity loudspeakers,
turntables, and other stereo components of his design. After leaving AR, he
went into hearing aid research and developed the multichannel compression
hearing aid, whose basic design has become the industry standard for hearing
aids.
Villchur received his master's degree from City College in art
history, and was headed for a career as a scenic designer. World War II
changed those plans, and he was trained in maintenance and repair of radios,
radar, and other equipment. He was stationed in New Guinea, where he rose to
the rank of captain and was in charge of the electronic equipment for his
Army squadron. Later, he served in the Philippines and on Okinawa.
After the war, he opened a shop in Greenwich Village where he
repaired radios and built custom home high fidelity sets. He continued to
educate himself in the area of audio engineering, taking night courses in
mathematics and engineering. After submitting an article to Audio
Engineering magazine (later renamed Audio), he was asked to write a regular
column. He also taught a course in his special area of interest,
Reproduction of Sound, at the night school at New York University. He wrote
three books and over one hundred and fifty articles on acoustics and sound
reproduction, including two articles written at the age of ninety.
Although he considered himself a scientist and a researcher, he was
very successful as a businessman. As president of AR, Villchur was known for
progressive employment practices and innovative advertising techniques. AR
used equal opportunity employment practices, and employees received health
insurance and profit sharing-benefits which were highly unusual in any but
the largest firms in the 1950s and 1960s. The company was also known for its
liberal repair policies, fixing most products for free no matter how old
they were, and in general providing excellent customer service. AR's
advertising was distinct from the sensationalistic ads of its competitors,
instead concentrating on technical information, reviews by impartial
critics, and endorsements from well-known musicians and other personalities
who actually used Acoustic Research components.
In 1967, Villchur sold AR to Teledyne, and went back to working as a
researcher. He chose the field of hearing aids, since he felt that there was
considerable room for improvement in these devices. He spent several years
investigating the problem in his home laboratory in Woodstock NY. By 1973,
he had come up with multichannel compression, a revolutionary concept in
hearing aid design. Rather than apply for a patent, he decided to publish
his findings and make them available to anyone who wanted to use them.
Resound, a hearing aid company in California, worked with Villchur to
produce a compression hearing aid. Over the next two decades, Villchur's
design became the industry standard for hearing aids.
Villchur lived in Woodstock from 1952 until his death. Music and art
were very important to him, and he served on the boards of Maverick Concerts
and of the Woodstock Artists' Association for many years. He was a friend,
advisor, and benefactor to countless organizations and individuals in the
community.
He is survived by his wife, Rosemary (Romy) Villchur, to whom he had
been married for sixty-six years; his son, Mark Villchur of Boston; his
daughter, Miriam Villchur Berg, of Woodstock; and many devoted friends who
considered themselves, and were considered by him, members of his family.
For more information, see the Wikipedia article "Edgar Villchur"
and its accompanying bibliography and links, as well as his personal
website, edgarvillchur.com. He was a great philanthropist, and supported
many local organizations, including Family of Woodstock, The Woodstock
Emergency Rescue Squad, the Woodstock Fire Department, the Woodstock
Library, Maverick Concerts, and the Woodstock Artists Association and
Museum. Donations in his name can be made to any of those organizations.
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