Publicist
honored for long career promoting the hobby
Donn Pearlman, who for more than 50
years has worked to promote the American Numismatic Association and the hobby
as a journalist, publicist and collector, is the 2015 recipient of the ANA’s
highest honor, the Farran Zerbe Memorial Award for Distinguished Service.
Pearlman will receive the award on Friday, August 14, during the ANA Awards
Banquet and Silent Auction at the ANA World’s Fair of Money in Rosemont,
Illinois.
“I am humbled and honored to be
selected for this award. Thank you to Col. Joseph Boling for nominating
me, and thank you to the ANA Board for selecting me,” Pearlman stated.
Pearlman enjoyed a 30-year career as an
award-winning radio and television broadcaster, including 25 years with CBS in
his hometown of Chicago. For the past two decades he has been a public
relations executive in Chicago and Las Vegas, and since 2006 has been president
of Donn Pearlman & Associates Public Relations. He resides in Las Vegas.
Pearlman created a publicity stunt to
help promote the 2003 ANA World’s Fair of Money in Baltimore and the planned
reunion exhibit of the four remaining known 1913 Liberty Head “V” Nickels,
together for the first time since 1941. He generated worldwide news coverage
that led to the re-discovery and authentication of the Walton specimen, which
had fallen off the hobby’s radar after the death of owner George Walton in
1962. The Walton family heirs subsequently loaned the nickel to the ANA’s
Edward C. Rochette Money Museum where it remained on display until the family
sold it in 2013.
“When the Walton nickel was brought to
the 2003 ANA convention in Baltimore and authenticated, I thought I probably
should retire because there was no way I could ever top that achievement of
helping to solve a 41-year-old numismatic mystery. I’m glad I decided to
continue working,” Pearlman said with a laugh.
Pearlman is the author of hundreds of
magazine and newspaper stories and columns about numismatics, and the author of
four books: one each about coin collecting and careers in broadcasting and two
books about baseball cards.
He served two terms as an ANA Governor
(1989-1993) and is a past president of the Morton Grove Coin Club in Illinois.
Since 1997 he has assisted the ANA in promoting ANA conventions. His previous
ANA honors include the Glenn Smedley Memorial Award (1993), the Medal of Merit
(1996) and the Exemplary Service Award (1999).
His numismatic collecting interests
have included 18th century Connecticut copper coins, mint errors and
“almost anything I see that is grossly under priced.”
Read more about Pearlman’s amazing
career in numismatics in the August edition of the ANA’s monthly magazine, The
Numismatist.
The American Numismatic Association is a congressionally chartered nonprofit educational organization dedicated to encouraging people to study and collect money and related items. The ANA helps its 25,500 members and the public discover and explore the world of money through its vast array of education and outreach programs, as well as its museum, library, publications, conventions and seminars. For more information, call 719-632-2646 or go to www.money.org.
E-mail: pr@money.org