A reading specialist, he prepared generations of adult students for the rigors of university work after years of absence from any academic setting.
His books about language are very well regarded for their clarity and humor and were introduced by such word luminaries as William F. Buckley, Richard Lederer, and Noah Adams, who also featured Mr. Ehrlich's language commentary on his public radio broadcasts.
He attended CCNY before service in the United States Army during World War II.
Trained to interrogate prisoners in Europe at the Army's language school at Boston College, as well as eight weeks of training at Camp Ritchie he was reassigned to the Pacific suddenly because events in France were developing too rapidly.
After the War, he did graduate work at Columbia Teachers College, taught at Fairleigh Dickinson University, and began work as a consultant to industry at Bell Laboratories, where his precise use of language helped scientists and engineers describe and communicate their discoveries.