Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by James O Phillips on April 2, 2011 at 20:18

was it John Boker

Permalink Reply by Ricky Ray on April 2, 2011 at 22:11

100% correct James!

Wow, you guys are sharp!

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Paid Notice: Deaths BOKER, JOHN, JR. - Paid Death Notice - NYTimes.com

BOKER-John, Jr., 90, worldrenowned philatelist, key figure in WWII military
intelligence history, and manufacturer of specialty cutlery, including the
widely collected ''Boker'' pocketknife, died April 12 at his home in Scarsdale,
NY. Recognized by the Collector's Club as the foremost philatelist of the latter
half of the 20th Century, specializing in the fields of German States and U.S.
Locals and U.S. Pre-cancels, John Boker has earned many of the field's highest
awards, including the Smithsonian Institution's Lifetime Achievement Award
(2002), the Robson Lowe Memorial Medal (2000), the Philatelic Foundation's
''Meritorious Service'' Medal, the Luff Award, the Berlin Philatelic Club's
Lindenberg Medal (1981), the Collector's Club Medal (1970), the Lichtenstein
Award (1967). and the Tilleard Medal (1967). He was a member ''Honoris Causa''
of the International Jury at CAPEX (1978). Chairman of the Expert Committee of
the Philatelic Foundation, Chairman of the special Anphilex Invitational
Exhibition of Classic Stamps (1971), Signer of the Roll of Distinguished
Philatelists (1964), member of the International Juries since 1956, President of
the Pre-cancel Stamp Society, President of the New York Pre-cancel Club, and
twenty-five year member and former President and Chairman of the Board of
Governors of the Collector's Club of New York. Boker traces his involvement in
precancels back to age 10 when he came into possession of a box of stamps that
were primarily New York and New Jersey Precancels. Being, at the time, unable to
afford collecting both states, he opted to concentrate on NY and so began what
was ultimately to become the finest aggregation of precancels ever put together
in one album of any description. John Boker, a U.S. infantry Major and recipient
of the Bronze Star, played a significant role working with the American and
British Intelligence Service during, and particularly at the close of, World War
II. He is best known for his work in interrogation and early ''Cold-War''
activities. Elected in 1990 to the ''Hall of Fame of Military Intelligence
Service,'' Boker concluded his involvement with U.S. Intelligence as a post-War
consultant for the newly established CIA. His contributions to World War II
military intelligence history is documented in a number of books on the subject,
notably ''The Service: The Memoirs of General Reinhard Gehlen,'' and Mary Ellen
Reese's ''General Reinhard Gehlen: The CIA Connection,'' a dramatic account of
the close connections between the chief of German Intelligence and U.S. spy
units after World War II. Well-known by antique dealers and knife collectors,
Boker, or ''Treebrand,'' superior quality pocketknives are foremost among the
various types of cutlery and hand tools manufactured by H. Boker & Co. (Est.
1837) until the merger of the company with New Britain Machine in 1965. Boker's
extensive business career also included his role as Director of Burnham
Corporation from 1972 to 1988, Director and Vice President of the Nelson Fund
Securities Company from 1958 to 1975, and Director of New Britain Machine from
1965 until its merger into Litton Industries in 1968. John Boker was born in
1913 in New York City, and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Yale University in
1933. He is predeceased by his wife of 52 years, Polly Lupie Boker, and is
survived by his two daughters, Pamela Boker and Joan Shisler, and six
grandchildren.

A version of this paid death notice appeared in print on April 20, 2003, on page
A24 of the New York edition.