Jerome Staller, economist of the law

Jerome M. Staller, 62, a founder and the president of the Center for Forensic Economic Studies, died Aug. 1 of complications from kidney dialysis at his home in Center City.

His son, Chad, the firm's new president, described its work as applying "economic and statistical analysis to issues arising in litigation."

Among those issues, he said, are "the true amount of economic damages suffered by plaintiffs, and the statistical likelihood of liability in class-action discrimination cases."

Mr. Staller opened the center in 1980 with Bernard Siskin, his former statistics professor at Temple University.

Mr. Staller was a senior economist with the U.S. Department of Labor in the late 1970s, when Siskin asked him to help analyze liability and damages in a case involving discriminatory hiring practices.

Chad Staller said that among the cases to which the firm contributed was the settling of the estate of Jessica Savitch, the Philadelphia television anchor who died in a 1983 car accident near a New Hope restaurant.

With Siskin and David Rorvik, Mr. Staller wrote

What Are the Chances: Risks, Odds and Likelihood in Everyday Life

, published in 1989.

A Philadelphia native, Mr. Staller graduated from Central High School in 1963 and earned a doctorate in economics at Temple University.

He was an adjunct professor at Temple's law school and lectured annually at the law school of Villanova University.

Besides his son, Mr. Staller is survived by his wife, Michele; a daughter, Shara Rich; his mother, Irene; and two grandchildren.

A funeral service was held Sunday.