Described by his family as a “serial hobbyist,” Southern Ontario numismatist Ed Anstett died surrounded by his family on April 3. The 93-year-old numismatic pioneer founded the Stratford Coin Club in the 1960s and later served as the president of the Brantford Numismatic Society. In 2002, he was named a Fellow of the Ontario Numismatic Association (ONA) before winning that group’s Award of Merit, its highest honour, in 2013.
“Dad was extraordinarily adaptable in life and never stopped learning,” reads an obituary published by his family. “He was a serial hobbyist, an amateur historian, a choir singer, an outdoorsman and an elderberry winemaker. Even blindness in one eye didn’t stop him from taking up scuba diving in his 50s, playing hockey with his grandkids into his 70s or maintaining an uncanny ability to sink a 20-footer on the green.”
Anstett’s family held a visitation in Brantford, Ont., on April 11 and a funeral mass the following day. Instead of flowers, donations can be made to the St. Vincent de Paul Society, where he volunteered as a repairman in retirement, or to St. Pius X Church, where he was a 55-year parishioner, at arbormemorial.ca/en/toll.