Without running Adrian Tomer would probably die.

It’s a passion this 60-year-old professor of psychology discovered in his late-thirties. He says training for and running in marathons keeps him physically and intellectually active—key elements to extending one’s life expectancy.

By all accounts, Adrian is “aging successfully”—a popular phrase in gerontology today. He’s staying active, and he’s doing things he enjoys, giving him life satisfaction. His 34-year marriage to Daniela is also a check in the plus column. Married men generally live longer.

But, according to Adrian, whose specialty is aging and death, it’s not long enough.

“I feel strongly that people don’t live enough,” he asserts. “People have a huge potential, and the time we’ve been given is not long enough. Plus,” he chuckles, “we make many mistakes along the way. We simply need more time!”

Although the number of centenarians is growing, most people today are dead by age 100. It’s not cancer or heart disease that kills them, a common misconception. “The truth is if you cured all cancers, it would extend life by about five to seven years. If you got rid of all heart disease—maybe 10 years. The reason is simple: at age 90 to 100 you can die from anything—like small cold or flu—because the body is broken down.”

To push the lifespan beyond 100, maybe up to 150, will take research, and that, according to Adrian, is progressing slowly. “The lifespan of today is not too different from that of 100 years ago,” he says. “We’ve expanded life expectancy, but expanding the lifespan is not an easy thing to do.”

Adrian has studied age-related issues for most of his career. A native of Romania, his family immigrated to Israel in the early sixties when Adrian was 17. He completed his high school education there and then earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

One of his first jobs was as a researcher at the Brookdale Institute of Gerontology and Adult Human Development in Jerusalem. Thus began his study of aging. By the time he earned his doctorate from the University of Florida in 1989, it was his specialty.

After all of his investigation into the topic, Adrian admits he doesn’t know what aging is. “I am the same today as I was when I was 20. Sure, I need glasses now. I know my body is changing, but this is superficial aging. My standards are the same now as when I was 20. I approach myself physically and intellectually the same way. In this sense, I don’t know what aging is.”

Physiological aging is a process you get used to, according to Adrian. “It’s not something that happens all at once. You have to look at 10 years or so to see the aging effects.” Therefore, people adapt to the gradual changes and accept it. Surveys find that people in their 70s and 80s are more pleased with life than younger folk. They consider themselves healthy relative to their age. Their reality matches their expectations.

These are the kinds of topics Adrian teaches at Shippensburg in his course in Human Cognitive Development. The topics of aging and death satisfy his interest in substantive psychology. He also enjoys teaching the graduate-level course in Advanced Research Design and Statistics. It satisfies his interest in scientific method.

He hopes his students find him the same, easy to talk and relate to. “The best compliment someone can give me is to say, ‘This is a young person at heart. He is still open to new things.’ This is a challenge as you age … to maintain openness.”

One of his challenges in communicating with students is getting them to think critically. For a man passionate about science, he is dismayed that our educational system does not scientifically prepare students. “Science is skeptical, critical, and precise, devoid of vagueness. It prepares us for more critical thinking—to take a stand, to make decisions. But our students lack scientific preparation in high school or before, so it is a challenge for me in the classroom.”

Outside the classroom, Adrian pursues his other passion, running. He runs with the Carlisle Running Club, training for a marathon (26.2 miles) a year and many shorter races in between. Now that he turned 60 in June, he’s in a new age bracket and it’s theoretically easier to win awards. While there are fewer men over 60 to compete with, the ones who are left are good. “If you’re 60, you’re not still doing something unless you’re good at it!”

Lately, he’s noticed during his runs with club members and during races that it’s not the young men, but the high-school-age girls his stride matches. But, he says with a mischievous grin, “that is not so bad, a 60-year-old man keeping pace with 17-year-old girls.”