Sol Koved, former editor of First Days, died on August 23, 2017 in Lantana, Florida at the age of 95.

He edited the journal for thirty years from 1960 to 1990, during which time it expanded significantly in frequency of publication and number of pages.

He expanded First Days from six issues per year of thirty-two pages per issue to eight issues per year with about one hundred and forty-eight pages per issue.

Sol also served as AFDCS executive director from 1986 to 1990. He received the Distinguished Service Award in 1975 and was awarded Honorary Life Membership 10 in 1985. In 1990 he was elected to the APS Writers Hall of Fame.

His son, Lance, recalled in an article in the March/April 2017 First Days, attending AFDCS conventions in the late 1950s and early 1960s, adding that in those days family trips were based around the convention. He also said that his father continued to look forward to each issue of the journal.

Lance also recalled that his father began a stamp collection that he expected would pay for his son’s college education. Although this did not work out, he still enjoyed the hobby.

Sol also edited the United States Specialist for the Bureau Issues Association, now the United States Stamp Society, from 1978 to 1981.

He served in the United States Army’s European Theatre during World War II.

With a degree in chemistry from City College of New York he joined Montrose Chemical Company in 1943, where he held various positions including production chemist, pilot plant operator, and assistant plant manager. He left the firm in 1971.

Sol took extension courses in industrial wastewater treatment, loss prevention control, industrial safety, pollution control, and toxicology. He worked in the environmental field and nuclear energy industry, and edited and published a six-volume emergency preparedness and response manual.

After retiring, he and his wife, Harriette S. Koved, moved to Florida in 2002. She died on November 10, 2016, at the age of 90.

Sol is survived by his brother, Fred, and sons Lance Koved and Alex Wisch, together with five grandchildren, and thirteen great grandchildren.
A memorial service was held at Beth Israel Memorial Chapel in Boynton Beach, Florida, on August 27, followed by entombment at the Eternal Light memorial gardens in Boynton Beach.

Memorial contributions may be made to the American First Day Cover Society or the American Heart Association.

— Alan Warren