I started collecting minerals as a young teenager, circa 1957. After graduating college preparatory school, I became a part-time mineral dealer with a partner at Franklin, NJ. I also sought and achieved employment by the New Jersey Zinc Co. at their Sterling Mine, Ogdensburg, NJ, to experience the mining process and observe the Sterling ore body in person. I became a drill runner and worked underground for about 1 year. I also became a supporter of the Franklin Mineral Museum prior to its opening. My original collection is the foundation collection of the museum. Thereafter I was drafted into the US Army and decided to make the military a career. My career took me to Viet Nam, Thailand, California, Germany, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Tunisia. I field collected gemstones while in Thailand. I decided to returned to my love of a hobby in 1984, as my military career was ending. I became a member of the "Millsite Crew" at Franklin, NJ, excavating that old mine dump site. I spent weekends as a volunteer underground again over a 3 year period (1987-1990) during the conversion of the Sterling mine into a public access mining museum (equipment and artifact conservation and specimen retrieval). Thus, I fully understand mining and mining jargon, as well as being capable of operating modern mining equipment and blasting. I also joined and became an officer in the Franklin-Ogdensburg Mineralogical Society (FOMS). I served as a Treasurer, Vice-President and President. I also became a board member and Vice-President of the Franklin Mineral Museum. In 1999, I was nominated to have a mineral named in my honor. That mineral, Lemanskiite, was subsequently approved and published. I have pursued the collection of Franklin, New Jersey minerals, a systematic species collection, a fluorescent mineral collection, and individual species (willemite, fluorite, prehnite & cassiterite). My collection now totals over 24,000 cataloged specimens.

I also collect geoliterature and possess one of the most extensive reference (not antiquarian items of anecdotal value) libraries in private hands, comprising thousands of pounds and hundreds of linear feet of publications from the exotic (such as the Royal and Imperial Geology Journal of the Hapsburg Empire) to the mundane (such as local club bulletins). My run of USGS bulletins is fairly complete with many relevant Professional Papers (excluding paleontology and strictly geological topics) on file. I also have complete or nearly complete runs of mining journals, providing invaluable data on mines and mining companies, going back to the 1870's (in the original).

My 42 years of government service as a transportation manager and subsequently as a criminal investigator (contract fraud specialist) and supervisor, resulted in my achieving an associate degree equivalency, with many additional upper level course credits, and honed my written communications skills, which are superlative. I excelled in many government logistics management, forensic science and contract fraud investigation courses. My research and investigative skills are similarly refined, as well as my knowledge of computers. I read and speak German and some Thai plus a little bit of Polish. I can read English, German, and Cyrillic texts.

I retired several years ago and since then I have been spending quite a bit of time on Mindat, working mostly on locality files and managerial/peer review of database input. I am interested in the most comprehensive database possible with the highest degree of accuracy possible.