June 2022 - 22

Player, Writer, Jester, Mensch
A
Eddie Kantar was one of the all-time greats
By Paul Linxwiler
CBL Hall of Famer Eddie
Kantar died April 8 in Santa
Monica CA, his longtime
home. He was 89.
Kantar was a two-time world
champion. He was a member of the
winning North American squad in
the Bermuda Bowl in 1977 in Manila,
Philippines, and in
1979 in Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil. He also earned
a silver medal in the
Bermuda Bowl in 1975
and a bronze in 1969.
An ACBL Grand Life
Master, Kantar won 17
NABC titles. All were
team games except for
the 1983 von Zedtwitz
Life Master Pairs
which he won with fellow
Hall of Famer Bob
Hamman.
In 2015, Kantar
was named the ACBL
Honorary Member of
the Year.
Despite this stunning
resume, Kantar is
best known as a teacher
and author. The
Bridge World published Kantar's
first piece in 1954, while the Bridge
Bulletin began showcasing his
work a few years later. His columns
" Kantar For the Defense " in The
Bridge World, and the Bridge Bulletin's
" Test Your Play " and " Chalk
Talk " have run for decades.
An author of some three dozen
books, Kantar was a prolific writer
who geared most his writing to
newer or intermediate players.
His style was a model of economy
and clarity, laced with generous
amounts of his trademark humor.
Six of his books were named Book
22 | Bridge Bulletin | June 2022
Powerhouse squad, early '60s: (standing) Kantar, Bob Hamman;
(seated) Lew Mathe, Howard Schenken, Marshall Miles
of the Year by the American Bridge
Teachers' Association.
Kantar also played the role of
bidding theorist. His various works
on the Roman key card Blackwood
convention are authoritative explorations
of the treatment, especially
in continuations that follow answers
to asking-bids for the number of key
cards or the queen-ask. Kantar's
discussions of which variations of
RKCB are most effective in different
contexts were groundbreaking.
Thousands of players attended
classes taught by Kantar across
North America, though Southern
California was his
typical venue. Kantar
was such a fan of the
area that he declined to
accept Ira Corn's invitation
to join the famed
Aces squad when the
team was being assembled
in the late 1960s
because it would have
required Kantar to
move to Dallas.
Born in Minneapolis
MN in 1932, Kantar
learned bridge as
an 11-year-old, and
then began teaching
the game as an older
teenager. Bridge was
a full-time preoccupation
for Kantar, as
was his other hobby,
table tennis. Kantar
was the Minnesota state champion
for table tennis, and he even got to
play in the world championships
for the sport, causing him to quip
that he was the only person on the
planet ever to have played in world
championships for bridge and table
tennis.
Tributes to Kantar were numerous,
especially from members of
the expert community.
Barry Rigal said, " Eddie was one
Billy Eisenberg and Kantar were frequent partners
in the mid-'70s.
of a kind. People always talk about
bridge players and say, 'No one had
a bad word to say about them.' In
Eddie's case, I am sure that is true. "
June 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of June 2022
