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The Chicago transplant turns his creative juices toward the senior professionals program at Eckerd College.
By TERRY JONES
© St. Petersburg Times, published July 31, 2001
ST. PETERSBURG -- Included among the nine U.S. patents Bob Stoffels holds is one for electronic "hand-shaking," a technology regularly used by millions of people.
During the 28 years he worked as an electrical engineer for GTE Automatic Electric Labs and GTE Automatic Electric Co., the design and manufacturing facility for the GTE telephone system, he invented telecommunication devices still in use today. Among them was the first electronic telephone switching system.
"The "hand-shaking' invention is an electronic method for telecommunication machines to communicate with one another when no human is around," he said. "Electronically identifiable tones or sounds are sent by one machine, recognized by another and communication begins. A fax machine, for example. All patents were for the company and industry. I made no money from them."
Stoffels, 71, retired from the technical end of electrical engineering lab work in 1972 and became editor in chief of America's Network, a leading telecommunications trade publication. During 15 years in that position, he wrote two books, dozens of articles and more than 450 editorials.
Stoffels and his wife, Jan, visited St. Petersburg after his retirement from lab work.
"We really liked the weather, the scenery and most everything about the area, so we bought a condominium," he said. "We still lived most of each year in Chicago but came down here at every opportunity."
Stoffels was born in 1929 in Chicago. In 1952, he received a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Northwestern University. He earned his master's from Northern Illinois University in 1982. He and his wife met and married in Chicago and reared two sons and a daughter in the Windy City. The Stoffelses made St. Petersburg their permanent home five years ago, when they purchased a home in Dolphin Cay.
Paul, their older son, still lives in Chicago, as does daughter Jane Craville. Richard, the younger son, practices law in the Tampa Bay area.
Sometime in the next few months, Stoffels plans to retire from the board of directors of the National Exchange Carrier Association, which operates under the auspices of the Federal Communications Commission. He wants to focus on his work as president of the Academy of Senior Professionals at Eckerd College, an organization of mostly retired professional men and women who volunteer at Eckerd College to "make a difference with intergenerational collegiate learning, personal growth and development, community engagement and social enrichment projects."
"Being elected president of ASPEC is an honor," Stoffels said. "At the end of a professional career, we look back to see if we have made a difference in the world. ASPEC provides people like me with an opportunity to make a difference in life. It is a way for us to remain excited about using our minds and increasing our knowledge."