The President of The Royal Philatelic Society of Canada (RPSC), Mr. George Pepall, FRPSC, is proud to announce that the Fellows have invited three outstanding philatelists to join their ranks on the occasion of the 125th anniversary of organized philately in Canada. The meeting was held in Edmonton, Alberta on June 1, 2012. The three are:

Dr. Peter P. McCann, RDP, of Sarasota, Florida, is a member of The RPSC. His services to The RPSC are better expressed in a two-fold manner. First as Chairman of the Committee for the Accreditation of National Exhibitions and Judges (CANEJ) of the American Philatelic Society (APS) and as President and Immediate Past President of the APS and of the American Association of Philatelic Exhibitors he has tirelessly worked with subsequent Presidents and Executives of The RPSC to make exhibiting and judging a truly North American affair. As Chairman of CANEJ he was on board early to extend the 1981 RPSC/APS Reciprocity Agreement to encompass more than judges. From 1996 on he has been a firm supporter of The RPSC and has represented frequently our interests with the APS Board. Without him we would not have had integrated judging, apprenticing, exhibiting nor would we have North American Exhibitions to crown the Champion of Champions for adults, youth and one-frame exhibits. We also owe him the mechanism in place to ensure the continued development of this integration. Secondly as Vice-President of the FIP for the last 8 years (2004-2012) he has faithfully represented Canada’s interests with the FIP in ensuring our voice was heard in the international world. This has given Canadian judges and exhibitors more visibility in the USA and internationally. It was during his Presidency of the APS that he cooperated fully with the then President of The RPSC and concurrently President of the AAPE to propose to the FIP a One-Frame Class; a now well-established international exhibiting class in which Canadian exhibitors have excelled.

Mr. Kevin O’Reilly of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories is a long standing member of The RPSC. Through his writings, presentations and exhibits he is the recognized expert on the philately of Northern Canada from Labrador to the Yukon. Although living away from the centres of philately of Canada he still has managed to participate actively in the development of our hobby through many of the philatelic organizations he belongs to. He was The RPSC’s representative on Canada Post’s Stamp Advisory Committee (2006-2012) and has served for many years on The RPSC’s Geldert Award Committee. In addition, Mr. O’Reilly is an international exhibitor and an expert in philatelic literature. He is also the proud father of and mentor to Amber who continues in her father’s footsteps. Under his guidance she won the 2004 North American Youth Champion of Champions competition, one of three Canadians to do so since the competition was started in 1990.

Michael Sefi, RDP, of Arundel, West Sussex, was elected for his tremendous help in ensuring the two most recent successful displays of The Royal Philatelic Collection in Canada. The first in 2006 at the Convention of The RPSC in Calgary and the second being the seven- month extravaganza, Her Majesty’s Stamps, held in 2009-2010 at the Museum of Civilisation. Furthermore, Mr. Sefi, more than his predecessors, has made the Royal Philatelic Collection available to Canadian researchers and to the Greene Foundation for expertisation purposes. In addition, thanks to Mr. Sefi’s selection, many BNA items have been displayed in several international exhibitions particularly the highly successful The Queen’s Own at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Postal Museum (2004) and at the Te Papa Museum in Wellington, NZ (2005). He has also shown selected BNA items from the Collection at The Queen’s display at the Royal Philatelic Society, London (RPS,L) and at many Courts of Honour of international exhibitions. He has worked tirelessly to transform the public appreciation of the Collection’s contents by display and lectures in many parts of the world. He serves on the Council of the Royal Philatelic Society, London and for many years was a consultant to the British Philatelic Trust and is currently Chairman of the RDP Trust. The Fellows also felt that honouring Mr. Sefi with a Fellowship in The RPSC would also honour, by extension, all the other Keepers who have made efforts to ensure that the Queen’s Collection was shown in Canada on six or more occasions prior to 2006.

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For more information contact:

Margaret Schulzke +1 (888) 285-4143
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