The attached was given out to everyone at Len's memorial service. E-Sylum readers can go to the Fairfax Memorial Funeral Home website at www.fmfh.com and leave a message for his family and friends. And in lieu of flowers, his family would like donations in Memory of Leonard W. Harsel to Ripon College, c/o Larry Malchon, P.O. Box 248, Ripon, WI 54971.

I can't claim to be one of Mr. Harsel's biggest or longest-term customers, having started buying notes from him only towards the very end of his career as a dealer. However, particularly these days when it seems that every other public mention of dealers is about how as a class they're too quick to snub young beginners, I remember well a visit to Mr. Harsel's table in Baltimore a couple of years ago.

My son, 7 or thereabouts at the time, had recently discovered watermarks and was fascinated by them. While I went through the stock looking for items to purchase I noted that a lengthy, and very gracious on Mr. Harsel's part, conversation was developing about watermarks. It culminated in Mr. Harsel actually pulling the proceeds of the show out of his pocket so that my son could compare the watermarks on current US notes with the foreign notes.

Len Harsel was a great person - friendly, always welcoming to new collectors, one of the pillars of the Vienna Show. He'll be missed.