Bill Stumpf

William Eugene "Bill" Stumpf (March 1, 1936 - August 30, 2006) was a designer for Herman Miller who helped design the Aeron and Ergon chairs. Stumpf's battle really began in the 1960s. "Everything goes back to those days at the University of Wisconsin–Madison," he said, referring to the postgraduate years he spent studying and teaching at the university's Environmental Design Center. "Everything was about freeing up the body, designing away constraints." It was there where Stumpf, working with specialists in orthopedic and vascular medicine, conducted extensive research into the ways people sit--and the ways they should sit. In 1974, Herman Miller commissioned him to apply his research to office seating. Two years later, the Ergon chair...