In 1946, the Carnegie Committee on Testing recommended that several educational councils be combined into one organization—which the next year became the Educational Testing Service, with Chauncey as president.

Under his leadership, ETS focused on research projects identifying different ways students think and measuring them on cognitive scales.

“Henry wanted ETS to push the envelope and research what testing could measure beyond verbal and mathematical skills,” Horne said. “Henry had a notion that you could begin testing a person who was quite young and use testing to help him make informed decisions about his life, not just college admissions.”

In the 1950s, ETS created the LSAT, the GRE and several military exams. When the firm outgrew its small offices in Princeton, N.J., ETS moved to a 360-acre campus in nearby Lawrence Township.

Ironically, though the pool of annual test-takers increased by 75 times during his tenure, Chauncey said in interviews that he never took the SAT.

After retiring from ETS, Chauncey served on several educational boards and was named president emeritus of ETS in 1988.

Although Conant and Chauncey intended to use the SAT as a tool to further democratize American education, the test has been criticized for being racially biased and a poor predictor of college performance. The advent of expensive SAT tutors and preparation courses has led many educators to question whether success on the test is reserved for the wealthy.

Chauncey routinely defended the test in interviews, pointing out that it was constantly reviewed for bias. But later in life he grew wary of the direction of standardized testing in America.

“The system Henry did so much to set up poses inherent problems and leads to results he didn’t believe in,” said Lemann. “He was a lifelong liberal and was very upset at the way the use of the SAT became a conservative cause.”

Chauncey kept in close contact with ETS up until his death, suggesting new research ideas and e-mailing interesting articles to ETS employees, Horne said.

“He was more than a businessperson, more than a person who made testing his goal,” she said. “He was an incredible person because he always acted from a strong moral standpoint.”

Married three times, Chauncey is survived by his first wife, Elizabeth Phalen; his third wife, Janet; eight children; 14 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.