Robert Paul Odenweller, the renowned philatelist and philatelic author, has passed away.
Odenweller is perhaps best known for his two seminal works: The Stamps and Postal History of 19th Century Samoa (2004) and The Postage Stamps of New Zealand 1855–1873, the Chalon Head Issues (2009). He was awarded the Crawford Medal in 2005 and 2011 for these two books, respectively. Along with Hugh Feldman, he is the only person to have received this award twice.
Odenweller was the editor of Opinions VI: Philatelic Expertizing — The Inside View (1992) and Hawaii Foreign Mail to 1870 (2012), and served as editor of the Collectors Club Philatelist from 2005 to 2012. He was a columnist for various journals, including the Collectors Club Philatelist, the London Philatelist, Fakes Forgeries Experts, and others.
The number of awards and honors he has received is too great to list them all. In 1991, he was invited to sign the Roll of Distinguished Philatelists. He received the Alfred F. Lichtenstein Award in 1993, the APS Luff Award for contributions to philately in 1996, the FIP Research Medal in 2006, the Distinguished Philatelist Award from the U.S. Philatelic Classics Society in 2009, the Smithsonian Philatelic Achievement Award in 2010, the Lindenberg Medal from the Berlin Philatelists’ Club in 2013, the Charles J. Peterson Philatelic Literature Life Achievement Award in 2014, and many others.
