Remembering My Philatelic Friends Who Have Passed: Glenn Clary
Glenn Clary passed away on December 14, 2014. Unlike many of my other philatelic friends who have passed, Glenn’s death hit me in a way that gave me an existential crisis. His passing, along with my father’s and Camille March/Nicholas all within the same year, left a profound impact on me. Glenn and Camille’s deaths were particularly painful because they were only slightly older than I was—both in their late 40s, while I was in my late 30s. Glenn’s passing also followed the death of his father, Ray, just three years prior.
Ray and Glenn were pillars of the Southern California philatelic scene. Ray dedicated much of his time to volunteering at stamp clubs and organizing nearly every club bourse and event in the region from the 1990s through the early 2000s. He didn’t do it alone—the entire Clary family would be recruited to help, creating a community-driven effort that kept the hobby alive and thriving. After the Clarys stepped away from volunteering, the clubs suffered, as few people were willing to replace them. With declining membership participation, the club chose to retire the shows.
In the late 2000s, after Ray’s death, Glenn and I joined forces to help transition his business from the bourse circuit to more of an online-focused operation. He had amassed a massive warehouse filled with decades’ worth of stamp balances that needed careful attention and organization. Working side by side, we tackled the immense project of sorting through his extensive collection, estimating that it would take a decade to go through it all properly. We were wrong—it took only a couple of years to sort through three decades of active buying.
Beyond the stamps, Glenn also had an enormous DVD collection filled with movies we both loved. Our days in the warehouse were spent plugging a DVD into the player, letting it run in the background while we sorted boxes—pulling out items for individual eBay lots, retail show sales, or public auction resale. The workspace became more than just a warehouse; it became a social nexus. Collectors and dealers like Caj Brejtfus and Steve Pattillo were frequent visitors, and it was a place where ideas and friendships flourished.
The dynamic and welcoming atmosphere we built together in Glenn’s warehouse later became an inspiration for what the Southern Nevada Philatelic Research Center LLC turned into. The center acquired a dedicated building to house a philatelic library and, with sponsorship from Professional Stamp Experts (PSE), evolved into a hub where local collectors could meet and collaborate in the Las Vegas area.
Glenn was not just a colleague or a fellow collector—he was a true friend, and his loss is still felt deeply in the philatelic community. His legacy lives on in the collectors he helped, the business he built, and the impact he had on the hobby we both loved.
