Kouri wins 2025 Lichtenstein award

The Collectors Club has awarded its Alfred F. Lichtenstein Memorial award for distinguished service to philately to Yamil Kouri of Sarasota, Fla. The award was announced at the club’s annual meeting in New York City on Jan. 8.

This honor reflects Kouri’s long list of accomplishments in philatelic exhibiting, writing and organizing, as well as his tireless work in recent years to broaden the appeal and reach of the hobby by leading the organization of Boston 2026 World Expo, next year’s once-a-decade international stamp show.

Kouri is a 2020 signatory of the Roll of Distinguished Philatelists and winner of the American Philatelic Society’s Luff award, among numerous other awards. He is a numbered member of the Real Academia Hispanica de Filatelia, the highest honor in Spanish philately.

Born in Cuba, Kouri began collecting stamps during his childhood in Mexico and Puerto Rico, naturally focusing on the Spanish Caribbean area, particularly the history of its maritime mails.

He has published more than 200 articles in some 20 different philatelic journals, and his first book, The Postal History of Spanish New Orleans, appeared in 2004; it has since been followed by half a dozen other books and 10 specialist monographs, most recently Mails of the 1861-1867 European Intervention in Mexico (with Steve Walske), published in 2022. Kouri was also the editor of The Cuban Philatelist and other journals.

An active philatelic exhibitor since his teenage years, Kouri has garnered large gold and gold medals at numerous international shows with a handful of different exhibits, culminating in the APS Champion of Champions award in 2019 for “The First Postal Issues of the Spanish Antilles (1855-1865).” Kouri is also an internationally accredited postal history judge and has presented at dozens of shows and conferences around the world.

His leadership positions have included vice president of the APS, chairman of the board of the Spellman Museum of Stamps and Postal History, and vice president of the Federacion Interamericana de Filatelia (FIAF).

In his spare time, he keeps busy as an oncologist and hematologist in Sarasota, where he moved with his wife, Suzanne, in 2022 after living in the Boston, Mass., area for three decades. Their five children now range in age from 24 to 35.

Kouri expressed his gratitude for the recognition bestowed on him by the award and touched on the real rewards philately has brought him.

“The friendships I have in the hobby have enriched my life incredibly,” Kouri said. “I am incredibly grateful.”

Alfred F. Lichtenstein (1876-1947) was widely considered one of the greatest American philatelists of the first half of the 20th century. The award in his memory was established by the Collectors Club in 1952, and its first recipient was Lichtenstein’s good friend and co-founder of the Philatelic Foundation, Theodore Steinway. More information can be found at the club’s website.

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