After graduating from DeVilbiss High School in 1952, Fackler enrolled at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for one year, then transferred to Valparaiso University, where he completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in chemistry, physics, and mathematics.
[1] Fackler began his academic career at the University of California, Berkeley as an assistant professor.
[1] He left Case Western in 1983 to serve as dean of the College of Science at Texas A&M University until 1992.
[2] For eleven years, Fackler served as editor-in-chief of the academic journal Comments on Inorganic Chemistry.
[4] He received the American Chemical Society Award for Distinguished Service in the Advancement of Inorganic Chemistry in 2001,[3][5] and was named an inaugural fellow of the ACS in 2009.