From 1970 until 1971, he served as the president of the Classical Association of the Middle West and South.
He graduated from George Washington High School as class valedictorian, matriculating at Williams College where, in 1934, he received his Bachelor of Arts, summa cum laude.
[2][3] Stocker would go on to earn a master's degree and Ph.D. from Harvard University.
He completed his dissertation, "De novo codicum Servianorum genere," in 1939.
Between 1955 and 1963, he served as the chair of the university's classics department, later advancing to become an associate dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences from 1962 until 1966.