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By Philip Walzer

John S. Eck, a former associate vice president for research and graduate studies who laid the groundwork for С��Ƭ��Ƶ’s flourishing partnership with Jefferson Lab, died at his home in Norfolk on Dec. 22. He was 81. 

Eck received his bachelor’s degree in physics from Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn in 1962 and his doctorate from Johns Hopkins University in 1967. After a post-doctorate fellowship at Florida State, he taught at Kansas State for 16 years. In his Physics 101 class, he wanted “to engage students in the amazement of the physical world and all of its contradictions,” said his daughter Karen Eck, Old Dominion’s assistant vice president for research. So he’d lie on a bed of nails or pull out a tablecloth from under a place setting to illustrate principles of physics. 

In another “memorable” lesson, Eck used a roll of toilet paper to demonstrate impulse momentum theorem, recalled Larry Weaver, a professor emeritus of physics at Kansas State. 

Eck joined the University of Toledo as associate dean of the graduate school in 1985. At Toledo, he spearheaded a fellowship program for minority and women graduate students.  

In 1989, Eck came to Old Dominion as associate vice president for research and graduate studies. James L. Cox Jr. became the chairman of the physics department about the same time. Together, they forged the foundation for what would become a significant component of С��Ƭ��Ƶ’s research enterprise – the University’s partnership with Jefferson Lab in Newport News. 

The plan, approved by then-President James V. Koch and then-JLab Director Hermann Grunder, created 11 positions in the physics department for faculty members who would conduct research at the lab. С��Ƭ��Ƶ and JLab shared salary expenses, and JLab provided additional support to the department. “John developed the University's framework for this unprecedented arrangement,” Cox recalled. 

“He had great academic instincts and excellent judgment,” said Cox, professor emeritus of physics who became a close friend of Eck’s. “As a physicist, he had been an accomplished researcher. As an administrator, he was honest, dependable and thoroughly honorable. John was just a great person to work with.”  

Since then, JLab has provided tens of millions of dollars in support for physics faculty members, postdocs, graduate students and operations, and Old Dominion has amassed the largest presence of any university at the lab. Recently, С��Ƭ��Ƶ launched a collaboration with JLab focusing on data science.  

Eck left С��Ƭ��Ƶ in 1995 to become dean of the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. The following year, the university’s magazine spotlighted his design of a patented baseball bat when he was at Kansas State. “Sluggers across the country are hitting softballs farther than ever before,” IUP magazine reported. “They probably know nothing of mass loading, center of percussion, axis of rotation, or moment of inertia. They just know that Eck’s SX-100 works.” 

He expressed his philosophy on education after his daughter sheepishly reported that her grades during a semester in France were less stellar than she had hoped. He asked her why she had gone to France. To learn to speak French fluently, she responded. 

He continued: “Well, the grades don’t matter. Don’t worry about that. You accomplished what you wanted.” 

“And he was right,” Karen Eck said. “He believed education was more than getting good grades and a good job. It was for the experience and the interior life you created for yourself.” 

Karen Eck followed her father’s path to research without premeditation. “There was never any pressure for my life to look like his,” she said. After she received her doctorate in psychology from Kent State University in 1998, she gravitated into research. Eck was a grants officer at McGill University in Montreal before joining Old Dominion in 2009 as director of research development. 

“He thought it was great,” she said. “He used to joke that I went into the family business.” 

After John Eck’s retirement in 2010, he and his wife, Dorothy, moved back to Norfolk. Eck served on the boards of Primeplus Senior Center in Norfolk and Friends of the Norfolk Public Library. 

Eck loved camping, fishing and travel (“He wanted to see the world and do things,” his daughter said), and he wasn’t averse to taking up new hobbies later in life. He started scuba diving in his 60s, including during a trip to Antarctica, and began painting in retirement, drawing animals, landscapes and family members.  

Karen Eck said her father was a word enthusiast, enjoying crossword puzzles and Scrabble. He had an advantage there since “he was probably the best-read person I ever met,” she said. But he wasn’t competitive. “We used to help each other find words when we got stuck.” 

She described Eck as “a wonderful father. He was somebody I adored inordinately and had a wonderful relationship with. He was fun and easygoing – just the best company. We talked about everything – work and books. He had a huge influence on me.”  

Eck is survived by his wife of 58 years, Dorothy DeLuca Eck; his son, David Eck (Kristie) and daughters, Karen Eck and Jennifer Muchka (Erik); his grandsons, Dillan, Trevor, Evan and Adam; his sister, Betsy Dreyfus, and sister-in-law, Edie Eck; his niece, nephews and their families; many wonderful friends; and his beloved dog, Meggie. 

Visitation will be 1 p.m. Feb. 18 at H.D. Oliver Funeral Apartments, 1501 Colonial Ave., Norfolk. A memorial service will follow at 2. 

Contributions in his memory may be made to the , or a charity of one’s choice.