Last Surviving Officers
Masonic Stamp Club of New York
Dr. Michael Bronner — Club Administrator
Professor Emeritus, New York University. Club Administrator,
Born and raised in California, he completed his professional education through an MA degree in Business Education at San Jose State College. His mentor there was Alvin C. Beckett, himself a doctoral recipient in Business Education at New York University in 1955.
In 1970, one of his Gregg author contacts, Dr. Karen Gillespie, asked him to join her at NYU to handle the Department’s BA and MA Business Education Program. From 1970 to 2007, he taught and advised at every level — undergraduate, Master’s, certificate, and doctoral — across more than 200 courses and 4,000 students.
Bronner earned his PhD from NYU in 1973. He recently retired from NYU after 38 years there and moved to Kentucky, where he is a member of Boone-Union Lodge #304. He also retains his earlier memberships in Mecca Shrine, Scottish Rite, and the American Lodge of Research, all in NYC.
Stamp collecting, even “serious collecting,” is a rewarding hobby for millions in the U.S. and internationally. Dr. Alvin C. Beckett encouraged and mentored Michael, introducing him first to stamp collecting and then to deeper research in philately. Dr. Allan Boudreau, also a major philatelist and Freemason, later sponsored Michael’s application for membership in the Collectors Club of New York. Beckett, also a Freemason, encouraged him to join the CC as well and to serve as Club Administrator for the 80-plus-year-old Masonic Stamp Club of New York.
These memberships led to Michael being invited to join the Collectors Club Board of Governors, first for a one-year term and later a full three-year term. He became deeply involved in its massive research library of books and related philatelic materials. He is now in his second three-year term as an elected member of the Board of Governors in New York City, and he has coordinated and authored numerous presentation reports later summarized and published in the Collectors Club Philatelist (CCP) journal.
Christopher L. Murphy — Publisher and Editor, The Masonic Philatelist
Christopher L. Murphy was born near Mere, England, in 1941 and moved to Vancouver, BC, in 1947. He joined the BC Telephone Company (now Telus) in 1958, was promoted to management in 1969, and retired in 1994. He lives in Burnaby, BC.
He joined the Masonic Order in 1973 at Mount Lebanon Lodge No. 72, Vancouver. He later became a member of Zenith Lodge No. 104, Burnaby, serving as Master in 1987 and later as Secretary (the lodge closed in 1999). He then rejoined his mother lodge and later Progress Lodge No. 87, Vancouver, and is currently a member of Composite Lodge No. 819, NYC. He is a Royal Arch Mason, Mark Master Mason, 32° AASR Mason, and Shriner, though now inactive in these bodies.
He authored “Postage Stamps and Freemasonry: Guide & Compendium, United States & Canada” (Carlton Press, New York, 1988), along with other books on Masonic philately. He also lectured in the Vancouver, BC area and in Washington State. He was named to the Society of Blue Friars (Masonic authors) in 1995.
He joined MSCNY around 1985 and became Club President in 2000. He assumed the role of Publisher and Editor for The Masonic Philatelist in 2014, following the passing of prior editor Allan Boudreau on January 26, 2015. He commissioned the Club website with Michael Bronner, later turning it over to Bro. Jeffrey Coney for development in early 2018. Club magazines are professionally bound and archived in the Collectors Club Library, New York City. The Club is now 85 years old.