MYRON GUST XENOS (1938-2025)

Myron Xenos was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on August 3, 1938. He was the son of Demetrios a/k/a James Constantin Xenos (1898-1985) and Maria a/k/a Margaret Fanelli Xenos (1910-2012). His father was in the restaurant business and later accounting business

Demitrios Xenos (age 36) and Maria Xenos (age 24) were on a passenger list arriving in New York from Naples and headed for Salineville, Ohio, in 1934. Demitrious was naturalized in Cleveland in 1938.

James and Margaret were listed in Cleveland for the 1930 Census. This indicates they were already in America prior to 1934. They may have used different names for different purposes.

I was unable to find James, Margaret or Myron in the 1940 or 1950 Census. I suspect there was an error in spelling their name.

In 1956, Xenos showed an award winning exhibit of stamps at the FIPEX show in New York.

Myron graduated from Rocky River High School in 1956. In his senior year, he appeared on stage in a class play. He joined the Army in 1958 and served through his college years. He graduated with a B. S. from Kent State University in 1962.

Myron G. Xenos joined the American Numismatic Association in September 1961 as member 42733. At the time he was living with his parents at 22614 Center Ridge Road in Rocky River, Ohio. Rocky River is a suburb of Cleveland on Lake Erie.

Myron married Daryl Lee Eckert on December 16, 1961. They had two daughters, Stacey and Stefanie. They were married for 63 years.

Xenos was the proprietor of Cartwheel Coin Co, in 1963 to 1965, operating out of P.O. Box 2971 in Rocky River, Ohio. In 1967 he was affiliated with Security Coin Trust selling out of the Sheraton-Cleveland Hotel.

In 1964, Xenos made a presentation to the West Cuyahoga Coin Club on "How to Keep and Protect your Coins." In 1969, he spoke about "Crowns of the World."

In 1969. Rocky River Mayor-elect Earl Martin named Myron G. Xenos to be his part-time finance director at a salary of $9,000 per year. At the time he was president of the Cleveland chapter of the Ohio Public Accountants Society. Xenos declined a full-time position and was replaced in 1970.

In 1971, he joined his brother-in-law Gary B. Eckert and Harry Mueller with Leo Vending.

In 1974, Xenos served on the City Plan Commission.

An article in The Plain Dealer on January 31, 1976, showed Myron G. Xenos watching the removal of a Tiffany stained-glass window from the Humanist Fellowship of Liberation Church. The window was 13.5 feet high and four feet wide. It was packed and shipped to Louisville, Kentucky, for restoration. It was reported that Zenos owned more than fifty major works of stained-glass art.

In 1976, Xenos proposed the Tiffany Ridge townhouse development on Center Ridge. The 23 condominiums were completed by 1978. Some of the units have leaded stained-glass windows. On this venture, Xenos was a partner with Xenophon Zapia.

The Beachcliff Motion Picture Theater closed in June 1976. By 1978 it had been transformed into Beachcliff Market Square at 19290 Detroit Avenue in Rocky River. A featured restaurant was Myron's Ice Cream Parlor and Delicatessen. This was described in The Cleveland Press for April 29, 1978.

WVIZ, Channel 25, is a PBS affiliated TV station in Cleveland. They conduct annual fund-raising auctions of donated items with a panel of volunteer auctioneers. In 1970, one of the items was to serve as an auctioneer for an upcoming sale. Xenos won the bid and became a regular on the show. Myron Xenos was responsible for the antique and collectibles parts of the sale.

In the 1970's Xenos was part-owner of a race horse, or more specifically, a trotter.

The first ad for The Money Tree ran in the September 1980 issue of The Numismatist. Xenos was looking to buy foreign crowns. Their address was 1260 Smith Court in Rocky River. The ads ran every other month until June 1981. Money Tree Trivia: The office cats were named Andy and Cheetah.

Myron was wandering around a Cleveland coin show in 1985, when his friend, Phil Aftoora, introduced him to another local numismatist with an interest in literature, Ken Lowe. The rest, as they say, is history. Now if only there was someone around to write up that history.

Money Tree began mail bid sales of numismatic literature with their sale of July 11, 1987, with cataloguing primarily by Ken Lowe. Myron still had his accounting business and Ken was a high school English teacher. The venture was a part-time effort for both of them, or perhaps, at times, a second full-time job.

The series ended with their 32nd public and mail bid sale of Numismatic Literature featuring the library of Kenneth Lowe on November 27, 1999, and December 4. 1999, cataloged by David Sklow who left to move to Florida. In 2000, Myron discontinued the mail bid and auction sales.

Money Tree began publication of their house organ, Out on a Limb, with the issue of August 1. 1987. That first issue included an amusing report, "An Evening with the Norwebs." The writing style was witty, sometimes half-witty, amusing and often satirical. Ken offered colorful descriptions of many people he met. The publication was honored as the best commercial publication by the NLG in 1988. In Volume 11, No. 1, dated January 1, 1998, Ken Lowe promised there would be three issues in 1998. It was not to be.

In 1989, Money Tree published fifty copies of The Invasion of Louisville / A Visit to the Armand Champa Library / A Very Short Story with Lots of Pictures. The event occurred on July 23, 1988, with photos by Myron. There are many pictures of about fifty biblio-luminaries with amusing captions but not one identification. Has there ever been an identification key published?

In June 1991, the first ad in The Numismatist appeared for The Money Tree offering numismatic literature with Myron and Ken Lowe named. These ads ran for three months.

In 1992, Xenos and Lowe went into the publishing business with their subsidiary, Gold Leaf Press. There first project was American Numismatic Biographies, compiled by Pete Smith and printed through the efforts of Remy Bourne.

At the 1992 ANA Convention. Myron competed with partner P. Scott Rubin as "The Bookies" in the World Series of Numismatics competition. Joined by drafted rookie, John Kraljevich, they came in second.

Money Tree published Rare Coin Review. 1969-1994: An annotated index of the first 100 issues.

 

In 1995, Gold Leaf Press produced their second project, Bust Half Fever, by Edgar Sauders.

Ken Lowe died too young on February 23, 1998. David Sklow became a partner in October 1998. Myron made a 1998 presentation to the NBS on "A History of Cleveland Coin Dealers."

At the 2000 Philadelphia ANA Convention, Myron had a Numismatic Theater presentation on "Audit-Proofing Your Taxes, Currency Transactions and 1099 Reporting."

In December 2000, Money Tree offered The Ultimate Guide to Attributing Bust Half Dollars by Glenn R. Peterson. It was published by Money Tree Press.

Xenos received a second-place award for his article in The Asylum, "Mendacity Rears Its Ugly Head." (Spring 2004)

Xenos contributed "You Don't Say / Numismatic Gleanings From the Past" to the Winter 2002 issue of The Asylum, journal of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society. He also contributed "You Don't Say: Numismatic Quarterly Quiz." This ran quarterly from 2009 to 2014. Myron also made occasional contributions to The E-Sylum.

For an article in The Asylum for 2005, Myron reflected upon his time with Ken Lowe.

In July, 2011, Xenos was noted as an ANA fifty-year member and in August 2021, as a 60-year member.

Myron suffered from Parkinson's in recent years. The last time I saw him was at a recent ANA convention. We spent some time together in the Food Court.

Myron died on July 20, 2025, in North Ridgeville, Ohio. He will be buried with his parents at Lakewood Park Cemetery in Rocky River.

	NBS (coinbooks.org) Web