A designer credited for changing the quality of stamp designs for the United States Postal Service has died.
Howard E. Paine, 85, died Sept. 13 at the Loving Arms Assisted Living Center in Front Royal, Va.
“Howard was a Renaissance man … he was single-handedly responsible for much of the improvement in the quality of U.S. postage stamp design over the past several decades,” retired USPS Art Director Richard Sheaff told Bill McAllister, a Washington reporter for Linn’s Stamp News.
The United States 29¢ Elvis Presley commemorative issued in Jan. 8, 1993.
According to the article, Paine was a stamp collector from childhood, and supervised the design of more than 400 postage stamps — including the famous 1993 29¢ Elvis Presley commemorative — during his 30 years as a stamp art director.
Paine was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, according to Terry McCaffrey, the Postal Service’s retired director of stamp art.