Jerome Staller, 62, best-selling statistician

SO, YOU THINK statistics are boring?

If you had met Jerry Staller, you might have thought otherwise.

First of all, can you put a value on a human life? Jerry and his associates at Philadelphia's Center for Forensic Economic Studies could and did in a number of high-profile civil cases.

And then there are the cute little tidbits that he collected for a book, like:

If you had your own room as a teenager, you are less likely to go crazy as an adult. Half of all Americans rid themselves of their virginity by age 16. People live longer on the West Coast. The washing machine is the most dangerous appliance in the house.

In other words, Jerry could have fun with statistics while conducting the serious business of providing economic and statistical analyses to lawyers and testifying as an expert witness in court.

Jerome M. Staller, whose business grew from a two-man operation in 1980 to the bustling organization it is today, with doctorate-level staff members working numerous important civil cases, died Friday of complications of kidney dialysis. He was 62.

One of the center's high-profile cases was the civil suit filed by the estate of NBC anchorwoman Jessica Savitch over her drowning death in 1983 when the car in which she and a friend were riding plunged into a canal in New Hope.

Jerry's firm produced the data that led to an $8-million settlement of the suit in 1988 - by putting a value on Savitch's life.

The suit sought damages from the restaurant where Savitch and her companion, New York Post vice president Martin Fischbein, had dined before the accident, the state for failing to provide a barrier at the canal and the Post itself because Fishbein had used a Post credit card to rent the car.

The question Jerry and his firm needed to answer was what Savitch's future earnings would have amounted to. She was 36 at the time and had a $500,000 contract with NBC.

Her tax returns were examined and her check stubs studied to determine her spending habits. A mock jury trial was assembled to get an idea of what a real jury might decide.

With all this evidence, the defendants settled, with the Post paying $7 million of the total.

In the case of Mark Donahue, a grand prix race car driver from Media who was killed in a crash in 1975, Jerry's firm worked for the defendant, a tire company sued by the family.

The center argued that Donahue's career was nearing an end and that his future earnings wouldn't have been that much. But a jury disagreed and awarded plaintiffs $9 million.

In 1989, Jerry's book, "What Are the Chances: Risks, Odds and Likelihood in Everyday Life," written with Bernard Siskin and David Rorvik, was published by Crown Publishing in 1989 and became a best-seller.

The Center for Forensic Economic Studies was started by Jerry and Bernard Siskin, his economics professor at Temple University, in 1980 when Jerry was working as a senior economist for the U.S. Department of Labor.

They formed the center after they worked together to provide analysis of liability and damages issues on behalf of plaintiffs in a suit against Operating Engineers Local 452, claiming discriminatory hiring practices. The suit was successful.

"Jerry established us as a national presence," said his son, Chad Staller, who has stepped into his father' shoes as president.

Jerry was a native Philadelphian and graduated from Central High School in 1963. He earned his bachelor's and doctorate degrees in economics from Temple University.

He taught in an adjunct status at Temple's James E. Beasley School of Law, donating his salary to the school's scholarship fund. He also lectured annually at Villanova University School of Law.

Besides his son, he is survived by a daughter, Shara Rich; his mother, Irene; his sister, Andrea Zeises; and two grandchildren.

Contributions in his memory may be made to Gift of Life Donor, 401 N. High St., Columbus OH 43214. *