ROBERT HEPWORTH LLOYD (1906-2009)

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V24 2021 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 24, Number 49, December 5, 2021, Article 13

American Numismatic Biographies author Pete Smith submitted this article on the Longest Standing Member of the ANA. Thanks! First, here's the reader who correctly answered Pete's question from last week. -Editor

"I'll take Pete Smith's challenge in naming the longest standing member of the ANA. I believe it was Robert Lloyd. I had the pleasure of sharing a table with him at the ANA's Centennial Banquet in 1991.

Lloyd wrote a number of articles for The Numismatist, and I believe some of them go as far back as the 1920s, when he joined."

"Dave Lange is correct. Robert Lloyd was a member for 83 years."

Congrats, Dave! I never would have gotten that one. You're this week's E-Sylum Smarty-Pants winner. How cool to have met him! Here's Pete's biography of Lloyd, with Numismatist photos from the 1935 and 1991 conventions, along with a group of his personal tokens. Thanks! -Editor

Robert Hepworth Lloyd has the distinction of being the longest member of the ANA extending over a period of 83 years. He was born in Buffalo, New York, the son of Morris Dempster Lloyd (1864-1881) and Lillian Mabel Hepworth (1869-1937). His date of birth is unclear.

The Social Security Death Index gives his date of birth as May 18, 1906. Ancestry.com gives his date of birth as May 18, 1906. The Findagrave site gives his date of birth as December 18, 1906. His various obituaries did not mention date of birth. He attended the University of Buffalo and graduated from the University of Michigan in 1929. He married Gladys Hepworth (1904-2009) on July 15, 1935. They had a son and a daughter and were married for 74 years.

Gladys Hepworth was the daughter of Charles E. C. Hepworth (1871-1957) and Mabel (1874-1960). Charles was the brother of Lillian Mabel Hepworth. Thus Robert and Gladys were cousins and their marriage was legal in New York.

Lloyd taught business and history at Tonawanda High School from 1936 until retirement in 1966 at age 60. He also served as Principal for Adult Education from 1947 until 1963.

He joined the ANA in 1926 as member #3024 on August 1, 1926. He soon contributed articles to The Numismatist while he was in college. In 1929 he served as secretary for the Buffalo (NY) Numismatic Association and invited the ANA to hold their 1930 convention in Buffalo. He served on the ANA board in 1930 shortly after graduation. He was elected president for the Buffalo Numismatic Association for 1931-32. After his term, he returned to the position of Secretary for 1934-35. In 1934 he was appointed as an ANA District Secretary. The ANA waited until he was 96 to give him the ANA Medal of Merit in 2001.

Lloyd was interested in paper money and compiled a monograph on National Bank Notes / Federal Reserve Bank Notes / Federal Reserve Notes / 1928-1950 published for Wayte Raymond and the Coin Collectors Journal in 1953.

Lloyd enjoyed model trains and was a member of the Western New York Railway Society.

He died in Elderwood Health Care at Crestwood nursing home in Wheatfield on October 10, 2009, at age 103. He is buried at Acacia Park Cemetery in North Tonawanda, New York.

His obituary in The Numismatist included some unfortunate errors. The obituary stated, In August 1926, Lloyd picked up a copy of The Numismatist at his local library. This conflicts with his membership application received prior to June 15, 1926, and published in the July 1926 issue of the magazine. The obituary stated, Lloyd was preceded in death by Gladys, his wife of 74 years. News reports state that his wife died on the following day.

Thanks for correcting the record! -Editor