Howard A. Daniel III passed away at the age of 81 on April 5. 2023 after battling advanced melanoma cancer for 6 months. Howard was born in New York City and was the eldest of seven children produced by Howard A. Daniel, Jr. and Anita Lawler. He is survived by his wife of fifty years, Phung Daniel, and four younger siblings, his two sisters, Joan Ellis and Anne Moble, and two brothers, Michael Lawler and James Miolla.Howard served in the United States Army, enlisting in 1957 and retiring in 1981 achieving the rank of Master Sergeant. He was recalled to active duty in 1991 in support of the Desert Storm campaign and later retired in the same year. Howard's service included assignments in France, Okinawa, Japan, Germany and Viet Nam where he met and married his wife.
Howard was a very successful and knowledgeable collector, researcher and writer having published six books on the currencies of Cambodia, Lao, Vietnam and the whole of French Indochina. His books are part of the standard references for Southeast Asia. In the 90s he also wrote a popular regular column for World Coin News, and later many articles for which he earned a number of awards.
Howard was a frequent speaker at the annual International Paper Money Show in Memphis, TN on topics related to the various currencies of Southeast Asia and China.
In past 25 years, Howard and Phung made yearly trips to Vietnam to visit family. During those trips, Howard travelled throughout Vietnam, Lao, Cambodia and Thailand meeting collectors, researchers and currency dealers while doing research for his books. He befriended many of those he met and was revered for his knowledge and dedication to numismatics. His most recent research dealt with the currencies of Burma and Malaya.
He became a Life Member of the American Numismatic Association in the 1972, awarded the ANA Glenn Smedley Memorial Award in 2008 and was later earned a 50-year member in the same organization. He was also a member of Numismatics International and was a Life Member of the International Bank Note Society (IBNS), and served on the Executive Board as First Vice President, Director at Large and Chair of the Young Numismatists Committee. He was inducted into the IBNS Hall of Fame in 2017. He was also awarded the Numismatic Ambassador Award by Numismatic News in 2004.
Howard was generous with his time and happily shared his knowledge, especially to the young people who would come to his table at various numismatic events. He would make up little bags of coins, notes and other coin-like items and give them away with the instruction to do the research and learn about what they had.
Howard was a good, honest and kind man who will be greatly missed not only by those of us who knew him well, but by the numismatic community at large.
Rest in peace, my friend.