Kenneth L. Hallenbeck, former American Numismatic Association Museum curator, president and acting executive director, will receive the ANA’s 2008 Lifetime Achievement Award. It will be presented Aug. 2 during the World’s Fair of Money convention in Baltimore, Md.
While still in high school, Hallenbeck organized the Ann Arbor Coin Club. He later became active in numismatics in Ft. Wayne, Ind., where he was a charter member and president of the Old Fort Coin Club. In 1977 the ANA asked him to serve as museum curator at its Colorado Springs, Colo., headquarters, a position he held until 1983.
Hallenbeck opened his own coin shop shortly thereafter, specializing in U.S. numismatic material and Colorado exonumia. The shop is currently owned by his son, Tom.
In 1985 he ran successfully for the ANA Board of Governors, and in 1989 was elected to a two-year term as president. In 1999 he received the association’s highest honor, the Farran Zerbe Memorial Award for Distinguished Service.
In 2007 Hallenbeck temporarily came out of retirement and returned to the ANA as acting executive director to pilot the association through a difficult transition.
He has received a host of ANA accolades and was named a Numismatic News Ambassador in 1993.
