(wm) Encounters with this man were always impressive despite of Dresden-born Peter Reichenbach being very humble and not the tallest. Rickenback as he was known passed away on June 11, 2015 in London. He grew up in a lawyer's family and had to leave due to his Jewish origin in 1936. After constantly escaping from the nazis for three years he managed to emigrate to England where he was granted citizenship and the right for permanent sojourn in 1945. In the same year he established the Waltham Stamp Company with a successful focus on German stamps.
Rickenback became famous throughout the world as a philatelist and supporter of his hometown of Dresden. He cultivated numerous specialized collections including Dresden postal history (local post), Dresden post cards and Dresden ad stamps, the latter of which he donated to the Dresden town museum in 2006. His memberships include the Berlin Philatelist Club of 1888 (since 1956) as well as the Association for Saxony Postal History and the Dresden Philatelic Association (both since 1948). Rickenback also served as a board member of the British Philatelic Trader Society and was among the first board members of the British Philatelic Federation. He was also a revered member of the World Association of Philatelic Journalists and Authors (AIJP).
In 1953 Rickenback edited the first English philatelic journal for Germany, the "German Philatelic Review", for four consecutive years until 1957. In 1955 he collaborated with Joachim Hosang on the "Stamps in Battledress" paper. Later on he contributed his knowledge to numerous German philatelic books. Until the very end he continued his research on various topics regarding his hometown of Dresden.
Image: Wilhelm van Loo