Edward Louis Steckler, Jr., a well-respected antiques dealer, died on December 23, 2015, at age 88. Born in New York City on February 1, 1927, to Dorothy Brill and Edward Louis Steckler, he grew up on the Upper East Side of Manhattan where he lived throughout his childhood and early adult years. Ed graduated from The Lawrenceville School and then served in the American Field Service in India at the end of World War II, after which he returned to earn a degree in political science from Princeton University in 1948. Ed later graduated from New York Law School, married Joan Abajo in 1960, and became a corporate attorney for NBC.
He was active in politics and served as Chairman of the Board of the New York Young Republican Club, and he worked closely with John Lindsay during his congressional and mayoral campaigns. Ed and Joan had three daughters and eventually settled in Windham, Connecticut where he found his true passion as an antiques dealer and collector of early Americana. Over the following fifty years, Ed established himself as a knowledgeable collector with a discerning eye for early American folk art, 18th and 19th century paintings and furniture, and "smalls" or tools of everyday life, with a particular love of antique corkscrews and figural sewer tile pottery. An avid traveler, he enjoyed semi-annual trips to London where he culled the best from favorite antiques shops by day and reveled in the West End theatre at night. His antiques business developed in Connecticut and Rhode Island before he moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he lived for the last two decades with his sweetheart of 23 years, Patricia Cobb. In his later years he and Patricia explored all corners of the continental U.S., exhibiting at antiques shows and visiting family, favorite museums, and national parks. Ed loved cooking, gardening, watching sports, and was a life-long runner after lettering in track and field in high school and college. He was also a lover of people, books, and all cultural arts, particularly the theater.
Edward died in Ann Arbor, Michigan; he is survived by his three daughters, Nicole, Michele and Kathryn, his brother Roger, grandsons Aidan and Finn, and his beloved Patricia.