IIAR

With a quick wit and a serious commitment to safety and innovation, Prof. Stoecker led the ammonia refrigeration industry for four decades; shaping generations of new engineers over a career that spanned the most important years of formative change in the recent history of industrial refrigeration.

The International Institute of Ammonia Refrigeration, its Board of Directors, member companies and employees mourned the passing of Prof. Stoecker on Sept. 5, 2010, a man who dedicated his enthusiasm and professional leadership to IIAR and the advancement of his industry.

As those who knew Prof. Stoecker remember how he influenced their careers, a picture emerges of a life well spent in the service of two passions, teaching and engineering.

“We have lost an icon in our industry and in engineering education,” said former colleague Ron Vallort, “Will Stoecker will be missed.”

“Will stayed involved in ammonia refrigeration for his whole life,” said Jeff Welch, a former IIAR chairman and current president of Freeze-Pro, Inc. “He was still coming to conventions long after he retired because he so enjoyed exchanging ideas with the new generation of engineers. He was very passionate about his work.”

“Will’s passing is a deeply felt loss, not only for his family, but also for all of us in this industry,” said IIAR Chairman Peter Jordan. “His lifelong contributions and commitment to IIAR’s mission are unlikely to ever be duplicated with such focus and enthusiasm.”

As an honorary lifetime member of IIAR, Prof. Stoecker led the organization’s industrial refrigeration workshop for forty-two years, teaching his most recent class in February of 2009. In 2008, Stoecker was named philanthropist of the year by the Ammonia Refrigeration Foundation for a generous financial contribution.

“Will was always very generous, not just in the sense of material things but also in sharing his knowledge and time,” said Don Fenton, a professor and the head of the Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering at Kansas State University.

Prof. Stoecker received his bachelor’s degree from the Missouri School of Mines, a master’s degree from the University of Illinois and his Ph.D. from Purdue University. He went on to be a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Illinois, where he taught for 36 years until he retired in 1984. Stoecker also served IIAR as scientific advisor from the early 80’s through the early 90’s.

As an educator and advocate, Prof. Stoecker was above all else, a mentor, freely sharing his deep subject knowledge, his business vision and his willingness to lend support to industry friends and colleagues.

Perhaps best known as the author of the “Industrial Refrigeration Handbook,” Stoecker’s definitive volume remains the comprehensive guide to ammonia refrigeration; educating generations and becoming the most trusted reference for industry professionals.

However, reminders of Stoecker’s influence will reach far beyond the author’s credit printed on the cover of his wellreferenced handbook – evidence of his legacy can also be found in the work of several research organizations that continue to support the industry.

One such organization, The Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Center, was among the first to benefit from Prof. Stoecker’s forward-looking approach to ammonia and refrigeration systems engineering.

Prof. Stoecker became the leading expert on ammonia engineering in a variety of national and international arenas, said Clark Bullard, Research Professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

It was in the early 80’s that Bullard began to work alongside Prof. Stoecker as a colleague at UrbanaChampaign, building interdisciplinary research centers for renewable energy technologies.

“As a student at the University of Illinois, I’d known Will and his work for many years, but when I came back to the University in 1980, I was plopped into an office right next to him,” said Bullard. “I was the director of the campus office of energy research, working mainly on coal related technologies.”

But then in 1987, satellite photos started showing a hole in the ozone layer, and Bullard began to think of setting up a research center to focus on developing a new generation of ozone safe and energy efficient air conditioning and refrigeration technologies.

“If it wasn’t for the realization that a hole existed in the ozone layer, the industry would have just plodded along,” said Bullard. “That problem led to the motivation for companies to redesign their equipment totally to get the most out of new refrigeration technologies and make the process more efficient at the same time… rather than just drop a new refrigerant into an old system.”

A new era of environmental consciousness was beginning, and as usual, Prof. Stoecker was ahead of the curve.

“Will was thinking about ammonia as an alternative to damaging chemicals years before the hole in the ozone layer was identified,” said Bullard. “He was thinking about alternatives years before the industry even had to start thinking about alternatives.”

As Bullard established The Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Center at the University of Illinois with partner Roy Crawford, “Will was our mentor throughout the entire process.”

“Those were the beginning years, and after Roy left, Will and I grew closer as he helped the Center grow,” said Bullard. “He always knew that ammonia was one of the top candidates for commercial refrigeration when it came to ozone-safe refrigerants.”

By 1992, Stoecker was one of the leading advocates for ammonia refrigeration, participating in IIAR industry promotional videos to help educate various audiences on ammonia’s environmental benefits.

“As we look into our crystal ball to try to imagine what’s going to happen to ammonia in the future, it’s clear that it has certain advantages,” said Stoecker. “In the first place, it does no damage to the ozone layer, and does not contribute to global warming. From an environmental standpoint, it has some great advantages as a very efficient refrigerant with exciting possibilities for expansion.”

Prof. Stoecker was also ahead of his time when it came to developing an international presence for the U.S. ammonia refrigeration industry.

“Will’s best piece of advice was to focus on international industry rather than just U.S. industry,” said Bullard. “The government didn’t like the idea of funding research that might go beyond the U.S. industry, and I knew that if I recruited international companies into the Center’s research, the National Science Foundation would be unhappy.”

However, the ammonia refrigeration industry, and competition within it, was growing on a global scale. Ignoring international technology developments could have proven limiting to U.S. industry.

“Will steered me through that minefield, encouraging me to get to know these companies and their technologies and as a result we involved them in every way we could, despite not allowing them to join the Center,” said Bullard. “Will was able to see where the leading edge of the technology was going internationally, not just domestically. He brought a much richer dimension to the entire industry by helping to push our domestic leaders into the global arena.”

“Since our competition was international, it was important to form those relationships and Will knew that,” said Bullard. “Those companies that failed to look outward – into the international arena – are probably no longer with us today.” IIAR Chairman Peter Jordan agreed with Bullard that Prof. Stoecker was a visionary when it came to cultivating relationships with international colleagues within the ammonia refrigeration industry.

“Wherever I’ve traveled or given a presentation recently, the memory of Will Stoecker is not far behind,” said Jordan. “Will is recognized and well remembered around the world wherever there is a gathering of professionals who know and understand ammonia refrigeration.”

As a teacher, Prof. Stoecker was best known for his “Industrial Refrigeration Handbook,” and focus on training and safety

“There are many people coming into the industry now… and its going to be necessary that they be instructed in the codes and standards, for both design and installation, and that plant facilities that use ammonia have very strict operating procedures that are followed by the operating personnel,” said Stoecker in an IIAR video.”It is possible to manage ammonia safely and thereby use it very effectively in our refrigeration systems.”

The key to that effective use and training, as it turned out, was Stoecker’s textbook. “Will’s Industrial Refrigeration Handbook became the bible for our industry,” said Ron Vallort. “The book encompassed all aspects of the topic, and he continued to improve and refresh the content through the years.”

“Will really did a service to the industry when he pulled together most of the modern thinking on ammonia refrigeration that was appearing in all of our technical papers,” said Jeff Welch, former IIAR chair. “It became a definitive text when there really wasn’t an engineering based technical text book that was directly targeted to our industry. He got into design concepts and details and the first principles of engineering as they applied to ammonia specifically.”

As Prof. Stoecker wrote his handbook, he also became IIAR’s scientific advisor. “Will was a chairman of the Education Committee at the time and was driven by the importance of educating people about our industry,” said Hank Bonar, CEO of Bonar Engineering and Construction. “Each year he would have a training school, bringing in industry people like myself, and then of course, he used all this information to write his book.”

Don Fenton, the current leader of those training schools said, “Will considered his industrial refrigeration workshop – started during his tenure as IIAR scientific advisor – to be the most successful thing he’d ever done.”

“He said many times that was because it reached so many people. He got this connection going between the young ones coming in and the veterans really wanting to share what they know about good refrigeration work.”

Prof. Stoecker may be gone, but his legacy will live on as his friends and colleagues continue to build the knowledge base of the industry by keeping many of his efforts alive, said Fenton. “I’m hoping to pass on this tradition of training to the next group of engineers, just like Will passed that tradition to me.”

However, as the industry mourns the loss of such an enthusiastic leader, that transition may take awhile.

“Will was never afraid to ask about things,” said Hank Bonar. “It is one thing to learn something, but it’s another thing to learn how to learn, and he did that on behalf of our industry. It’s hard to see anyone on our horizon who can transcend that.”

Will Stoecker is survived by his wife, Patricia (Tenting) Stoecker; a son, Paul, of Fort Collins, Colo.; a daughter, Janet Kiener, her husband Steve and their two children, Annie and Scott, all of Cincinnati, Ohio; and a daughter, Anita Edge, her husband Ben and their two children, Matthew and Kyle, of Clemson, S.C.

A memorial service will be held at Grace Lutheran Church, Champaign, on Dec. 19, 2010, at a time to be announced later.

Memorials may be made to Grace Lutheran Church, 313 S. Prospect Ave., Champaign, IL 61820-4779, or to the University of Illinois Foundation (Wilbert F. Stoecker Scholarship Fund), 1305 W. Green St., Urbana, IL 68101.