By Laura D.C. Kolnoski
“I had no idea he did all that.” It is a common observation since the passing of Robert W. “Bob” Lucky, Ph.D., March 10 at age 86. A pioneer in technology and engineering, he garnered myriad international recognitions and awards over six decades, including the coveted Marconi Prize. Lucky may have technically retired in 2002, but he never stopped working.
A holder of 11 patents, Lucky was highly sought after for his expertise and commentary on the future of technology and society, which he shared chairing and participating in numerous agencies, commissions, boards of directors, university advisory boards and select committees.
“There’s a theme that’s permeated today,” he said during a Monmouth County TED talk in 2014, “It’s overcoming adversity, obstacles, endangerment – the will and the ability to do that whether it’s the pollution of the ocean, the erosion of our beaches, the rising tides, economics, and social adversity.”
The man who began his professional career at Holmdel’s AT&T Bell Laboratories in 1961 returned to the public spotlight in 2007 when he agreed to chair the Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Planning Authority (FMERPA), charged with planning the future of the U.S. Army base closed by the federal government in 2005. Joining him over the ensuing 15 years was Monmouth County Commissioner Lillian Burry of Colts Neck, the county’s representative to both FMERPA and its successor, the Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Authority (FMERA), currently implementing the plan.
Burry recalled how she, a Republican, was asked to nominate Lucky, a Democrat, to FMERPA during the Chris Christie administration at the request of a fellow Republican official.
“I had no problem because I’d known Bob for so long,” she said March 19. “Early on, we were very optimistic because we believed in the location and what we could achieve. He can be credited for a lot of that. I have nothing but respect for the man. He made his mark, in a subdued and effective way.”
When Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy succeeded Christie, he kept Lucky in the chairman’s seat.
The Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania native headed Bell Labs’ Research Division during its “Golden Age” of invention and innovation. In 1964, while studying sending data over phone lines and modems, he invented his adaptive equalizer, which corrected for distortion and was the key enabler for high-speed modems today.
“It was a 6-foot-tall piece of equipment then; now it’s just a chip,” Lucky explained during a 2014 interview at his home.
On his time at Bell Labs, Lucky said, “Whatever you wanted to know, someone down the hall was a world expert on it. So many famous people worked there. We never knew then how good we had it.”
He traced the awakening of his scientific curiosity to a book he read in his youth entitled, “The Boy’s First Book of Radio and Electronics.”
Lucky authored and co-authored his own tomes, most notably a textbook on data communications that was among the most cited references in the field. Among his many technical papers and books were “Silicon Dreams” and “Lucky Strikes Again.”
In 1987, Lucky received the Marconi International Prize, named for Nobel Prize winner Guglielmo Marconi, inventor of the radio wave-based wireless telegraph system, from Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger and Marconi’s daughter, Goia Marconi Braga. He eventually became chairman of the Marconi Society.
While a member of the national Defense Science Board, he worked with Secretaries of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gates. A photo of Lucky and his late wife Joan dining at Rumsfeld’s home occupied a prominent spot in the Lucky living room. (Joan Lucky, the original editor of The Two River Times People Pages, died in 2015.)
“It’s energizing to be involved in high-level policy making,” Lucky said. “I met with top level generals in the Pentagon and chaired studies on software, intelligence budgeting and nation-building versus war, or protecting the good guys instead of killing the bad guys and how intelligence can be used to do that.”
When he turned his talents to Fort Monmouth, Lucky prioritized bringing a university to the redevelopment. That was realized last year when New Jersey City University opened in the fort’s renovated Squier Hall.
“Getting involved with Fort Monmouth was unlike anything I’ve done; I saw it as a fantastic opportunity,” Lucky said. “I didn’t realize the difficulties and how doing what you think is right would be so challenging with all the competing interests.”
Gazing at the water from his back porch in 2014, Lucky joyfully discussed his hobbies – reading, playing the piano, kayaking on the Navesink River and bicycling, which took him around the globe to France, Austria, Germany, Ireland, Italy and Holland.
“It’s great to travel on a bike because you are under your own power and see every foot of a place,” he reflected. “It’s a whole different kind of experience.”
Asked then about the future of technology, Lucky said, “I learned that I have no idea what the future holds; it develops in ways you can never anticipate, and that defies predictions. It’s hard to believe all that’s happened since I started.”
“He thought about the future long term,” said Eatontown Mayor Anthony Talerico, who represents the borough on FMERA. Bruce Steadman, FMERA’s executive director, said, “He was the glue that held (things) together. Never autocratic or closed-minded, he was always willing to help and was a great sounding board for ideas. Bob was a kind, respectful, pleasant man with a great self-deprecating sense of humor.”
Lucky’s vision for Fort Monmouth in 2014 is gradually being realized: “I want to see walkable streets with shops, a place where people live, work and play. That’s what
we aspire to.”
This article originally appeared in the March 24 – 30, 2022 print edition of The Two River Times.
