At the beginning of the year, the British North America Philatelic Society (BNAPS) named four new emeritus members who reached their 40th year of membership with the international organization.
This year’s emeritus members include Joseph Berkovits, John Buckner, Ian Robertson and Glen Stirling. A long-time CSN columnist, Robertson marked his 35th anniversary with the magazine last March.
In 1978, the BNAPS board of governors created an emeritus membership program for members who were with the society for 35 consecutive years and aged 75 or older. A decade later, the criteria for emeritus membership was updated to remove the age requirement and increase the membership requirement from 35 to 40 years. From 1988-93, members who met either set of criteria were accepted as emeritus members; however, the 40-year rule has prevailed since 1993.
Emeritus members have “all the rights, privileges and benefits of regular members, without having any more dues levied or collected,” according to BNAPS officials. Since 1978, at least one emeritus member has been inducted each year except 1980 and 1999.