Edward Sklar

Ed Sklar died unexpectedly of heart failure late in the week of June 29th, one week after his 74th birthday. Ed was one-of-a-kind and a treasure to us all, known and feared for his sharp New York-style wit, admired for his keen and penetrating intellect, and loved for his gentle demeanor and boundless capacity for kindness.

Ed was born in Queens, New York, to Nathan Sklar and Augusta Steinbook. Ed obtained his Bachelor of Science at Rochester Institute of Technology in 1967 and his Master of Science at Northeastern University in Electro-Optics in 1971. After living in the northeastern US and working for American Science and Engineering, Raytheon Inc, and Diffraction Limited Inc, Ed moved to Santa Fe where he worked as a Research Scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory from 1979-1995. In 1990, Ed started his own successful business, the OptiCAD Corporation, which produced ray-tracing software to design and analyze non-imaging optical systems. Although tapering his company business down these past few years, Ed was still highly sought after as a consultant.

In the ’70s and ’80s, Ed was well-known for his rock climbing, which was careful and methodical. Dubbed the “King of the Quincy Quarries” in the mid 1970s, Ed is perhaps best known in the climbing community for his profoundly simple characterization of climbing –“Climbing may be hard, but it is easier than growing up”. This phrase has been adopted by numerous climbing gyms and outdoors stores and is now seen on many t-shirts around the globe, often attributed with reverence to “Yogi Sklar Ananda”.

Ed also traveled the world. His experiences included: numerous diving adventures from Australia to the Galapagos to the Red Sea; several safaris across Africa; climbing trips to England, Scotland, Europe and New Zealand, and adventurous, dangerous trips in the highlands of Papua New Guinea. All of these travels were well-documented in his photography, for which he had a keen talent.

In his later life, Ed found friendship and solace in walking his dogs, and over the years there were four – Remy, Zuni, Ozzie, and Rezi. Ed and his dog were a regular feature at many Santa Fe breakfast restaurants and at the Ortiz dog park, where he developed a family/tribe of mutual dog loving friends.

Ed is survived by his dog Rezi; his brother, Richard Sklar, in Brooklyn, NY; his adopted family of 43 years Ken, Maura, Mairin and Nolan Sims in Laramie, Wyoming; and numerous loving human and canine friends. You lived a good life Ed, rest in peace. We miss you.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Ed’s memory can be made to Kitchen Angels (www.kitchenangels.org).