YARDLEY, PA… Daniel E. Kramer, 89, inventor, engineer, attorney, patent attorney, beloved husband and father, friend to many, died at home on Monday, January 8, 2018.
Dan was a graduate of Trenton Central High School (1946) and the Columbia University School of Engineering (1950, where he was elected to Sigma Xi, the Honorary Research Society, and to Phi Lambda Upsilon, the Honorary Chemistry Society.
After graduation he continued research at Columbia University Engineering Center on the subject of nuclear heat transfer. In 1950 he married fellow Trentonian Doris Silk, a marriage that was dissolved only by death after 67 years.
After leaving the Dupont Project in 1953, he began at Kramer Trenton Company, a Trenton-based manufacturer of air and water cooled industrial refrigeration machinery. After serving as laboratory technician, during which he applied for his first patent, he was National Service Manager, then Chief Engineer from 1964-1988.
He held 36 US Patents, and was honored as New Jersey Inventor of the Year in 1990.
In his capacity as Chief Engineer he was a popular speaker on Refrigeration topics at numerous ASHRAE and RSES meetings and National and Regional Conventions. He is the author of many published technical papers on refrigeration, most in the ASHRAE Journal.
He was an early proponent of and author of papers on natural refrigerants that have no global warming effect.
Following retirement he was an active consultant specializing in commercial and industrial refrigeration and a popular speaker on the subject of the Ozone problem and on the use of hydrocarbons and hydrocarbon mixtures as substitutes for chloro-fluoro-carbon (CFC) refrigerants. He acted frequently as an expert witness in cases involving losses and injuries arising from the operation, malfunction, or non-operation of refrigeration and air-conditioning systems and their components.
His expertise was known and recognized throughout the world. In 1992 he delivered lectures at the University at Rostov-on-Don in Russia. He was invited to consult in Novosibirsk, Siberia in 1998 and in Bangkok, Thailand in 2000.
He is a 1976 graduate of Temple University School of Law and was a member of the New Jersey and Pennsylvania Bars and a Patent Attorney. He has served as chair of the ABA sub-committee on Inventor’s Compensation.
From 1988 to 2008 he had an active individual patent practice, specializing in refrigeration inventions, with world-wide clientele.
He held a Private Pilot’s license for single engine planes and for years piloted his own Aeronca Chief high wing airplane, giving rides to family and friends.
He was an active pistol marksman and competed frequently. In 1972 he won the Eastern three-gun (22, 38 and 45 caliber) pistol championship over several hundred competitors. He had a gunsmith’s federal license and specialized in accurizing 45 automatic pistols for members of his gun club, Citizens R&R of Princeton Junction, NJ
He was a devotee of Classical chamber music and especially the solo violin music of J.S. Bach and regularly attended plays, Dance, and concerts.
He was an expert mechanic and enjoyed plumbing, electronics and electric repairs, both for his family and whoever needed advice or help.
He was a distinctively non-competitive runner and ran two miles rain-or-shine every morning before breakfast from 1962 to 1992, a total of about 20,000 miles.
He is survived by his wife, Doris Silk Kramer, son Dr. David Kramer (Suzy), grandchildren Anya and Ella Kramer, Abigail (Masato) Odakura, Samuel Feinberg, and great-grand-child Jake Odakura
He was predeceased by his parents Israel and Ella Feldman Kramer and his sister Elaine (Rusty) Green/Engelman, son Matthew Alan, then a senior at Columbia School of Engineering, and daughter Susan, married to Edward Feinberg.
Dan Kramer was generous to those around him, and freely bestowed his gifts (and opinions) on whoever seemed to need them, either from want or error. His sense of humor, sense of duty as a citizen, and great love and loyalty to his wife, children, grandchildren, and circle of friends and community mark him as a great though private man. He was loved by many (sometimes despite himself), and will be missed by more than he ever could have known or imagined.
Funeral services are Friday 11AM (January 12) at Orland’s Ewing Memorial Chapel, 1534 Pennington Road, Ewing Township. Burial will follow at Fountain Lawn Memorial Park, Ewing Township. The family respectfully requests memorial contributions to a charity of the donor’s choice.