Neil and I have been close friends for the past 60 years, and worked side-by-side at Whitman Publishingfor over 20 years. He was one of the finest people I have ever known, and a consummate numismatist inevery way. Perhaps best known for his encyclopedic knowledge of Philippine coins and paper money, hewas equally renowned for his interest in all numismatic collectibles, and especially for his amusing puns.

In 1961 I was working with R. S. Yeoman as Coordinating Editor for Whitman publications, and neededan assistant to help with a growing work load. Shafer, who was already well known for his numismaticexpertise, was my first choice and after some hesitation he accepted the position. At that time, he wasin his first semester at Georgetown University studying law and was also teaching instrumental music ina local public school. In August of 1962, he moved from Washington to Racine, Wisconsin, to begin hisnew position at Whitman, and quickly adopted to an equally busy schedule in the publishing industry.

With Neil's help we managed to keep up with an ever-growing workload during a period of acceleratedinterest in coin products, although we often joked about our challenges of doing , whichincluded merchandising programs, and a monthly magazine that we edited and published for a full fiveyears from 1964-1968. In an effort to make our miniscule staff seem larger than it was, we sometimesused pseudonyms for the articles we wrote, or occasionally used our spouses' maiden names.

Throughout the years, Neil Shafer and I have always been more like brothers than just good friends. Ourfavorite pastime was playing chess, where we were quite equally matched and must have played at leastseveral thousand games. When not engaged in that, we dabbled in trading coins with each other whereour only rules were that each ended up being happy with the transaction, or whomever really neededthe piece most for their collection could have it.

Many will likely remember Neil for many of his other outstanding talents. As an accomplished violaplayer, he played or conducted music throughout his lifetime. He was a master comic, and could rarelybe topped with his clever puns and jokes. His published works on paper money, Philippine currency, andMilitary notes are classics. His many well-deserved awards and honors reflect his dedicated labors, andreasons for being elected to the ANA Hall of Fame in 2008. May his memory live forever.