B. Jay Becker (1904 - October 9, 1987) was an American lawyer and bridge champion.
He was born and raised in Philadelphia where he trained as a lawyer at Temple Law School, graduating in 1929; he lived there until 1937. Turning to a career in contract bridge, he became a top player, columnist and teacher, twice winning world championships in the Bermuda Bowl events of 1951 and 1953. After playing on the Vanderbilt Trophy-winning team at age 81 in 1976, he was both the oldest player to win the Vanderbilt teams tournament and the winner of the greatest number of "national" (North American) team championships.
A conservative bidder, Becker had a careful style, avoided most bidding conventions and relied instead on his technical skills and judgment; he was admired and respected for his quiet demeanor at the table.
Over the years, Becker managed three New York bridge clubs (the Cavendish 1942-47, the New York Bridge Whist 1948-50 and the Regency 1951-56) and for thirty years was a nationally syndicated columnist. A contributor to The Bridge World and the ACBL Bulletin, he was a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of The Official Encyclopedia of Bridge and a member of the ACBL Laws Commission.
Becker is one of the German-language surnames, along with Bäcker and Baecker, that derive from the [baːk]~[bɛk] root, which refers to baking. The surname began as a name for a baker (and thus his family). Notable people with the surname include:
Becker is a German surname.
Becker may also refer to:
The Inland Type Foundry was an American type foundry established in 1894 in Saint Louis, Missouri and later with branch offices in Chicago and New York City. Although it was founded to compete directly with the "type trust" (American Type Founders), and was consistently profitable, it was eventually sold to A.T.F,.
Inland was founded by the three sons of Carl Schraubstadter, one of the owners of the Central Type Foundry which had shut down upon being sold to A.T.F. in 1892. William A. Schraubstadter had been superintendent of the old foundry and, not being offered a similar position in the consolidation, founded Inland with his two brothers, Oswald and Carl Jr. At first the foundry sold type made by the Keystone Type Foundry and the Great Western Type Foundry, but soon enough was cutting and casting faces of their own. All three brothers were familiar with the foundry business and quite soon the firm began making type that was "state of the art," being point-set and having a common base-line for all faces of the same body size. This last feature was a recent innovation and, as Inland had no back stock of non-linging faces, they advertised this heavily as "Standard Line Type."
B. Jay Becker (1904 - October 9, 1987) was an American lawyer and bridge champion.
He was born and raised in Philadelphia where he trained as a lawyer at Temple Law School, graduating in 1929; he lived there until 1937. Turning to a career in contract bridge, he became a top player, columnist and teacher, twice winning world championships in the Bermuda Bowl events of 1951 and 1953. After playing on the Vanderbilt Trophy-winning team at age 81 in 1976, he was both the oldest player to win the Vanderbilt teams tournament and the winner of the greatest number of "national" (North American) team championships.
A conservative bidder, Becker had a careful style, avoided most bidding conventions and relied instead on his technical skills and judgment; he was admired and respected for his quiet demeanor at the table.
Over the years, Becker managed three New York bridge clubs (the Cavendish 1942-47, the New York Bridge Whist 1948-50 and the Regency 1951-56) and for thirty years was a nationally syndicated columnist. A contributor to The Bridge World and the ACBL Bulletin, he was a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of The Official Encyclopedia of Bridge and a member of the ACBL Laws Commission.
The Independent | 15 Jul 2018