Ursula
Kampmann just posted this on Facebook...
Last night we learned that 106 year-old
Eric P. Newman has passed away. For all those who have not yet heard of him:
Eric P. Newman is one of the most popular figures of US American
numismatics. He was born in 1911. With as many as two degrees in different academic disciplines – he held an Engineering degree from the MIT and a degree in Law from Washington University – he then became a well-known lawyer and inventor who invested a share of
his revenues in
numismatics.
Over the last years, Heritage auctioned parts of
his collection. The revenues were spent on the realization of what was the coin enthusiast’s vision: he wanted others to share
his great passion.
Eric P. Newman thus not only devoted the lion-share of
his more than 100 books and articles to numismatic topics; Washington University has a Newman
Money Museum, and the online available Newman Numismatic Portal offers a seemingly uncountable set of scans of
numismatics sources that are otherwise hard to come by.
The numismatic community needs people like
Eric P. Newman. And it keeps bringing forth people like him.
After all, coin collecting is more than a short-term investment or an irrelevant pastime. It’s an attitude to life. It’s the lived conviction that we are
part of a
history to which we owe that we are who we are and which obliges us to pass the best we have and know on to future generations.
Eric P. Newman has lived this conviction. And for that, we are grateful to him.
