PHILLIP CARRIGAN (1944-2018)

A Waukegan resident, Carrigan served on advisory boards for organizations that provide Head Start programs, transitional housing and food pantries, Anderson said.

Carrigan was born near Boston, where he began his career as a pharmacist, according to his Facebook page.

He moved to Illinois to work for Abbott Laboratories where he was a research scientist and was inducted into its prestigious Volwiler Society, Jakes said.

He retired in 2004 after 30 years with the company, according to his Facebook page.

A dedicated volunteer and advocate, Philip Carrigan had an early example of how to help the less fortunate in his father, Philip Carrigan Sr., said his wife, Mary Clare Jakes.

Carrigan, who was 73 when he died, would tell her about how he would go with his father to deliver Thanksgiving dinners, she said.

Jakes added that Carrigan volunteered with PADS Lake County, going every Friday to the homeless shelter in Waukegan.

Joel Williams, executive director of PADS Lake County, said Carrigan "really embodied the way that we try to treat people with dignity."

He had a real knack for talking to people about what's going on in their lives, the happenings in the world or just nothing at all, Williams said.

"Sometimes there are just special people, and he was certainly one of those people,"

A wake is planned for 4 to 8 p.m. Feb. 9 at Peterson & Patch Funeral Home, 408 N. Sheridan Road in Waukegan. Visitation will follow 10 to 11 a.m. Feb. 10 with a 11 a.m. Mass, both at St. Patrick's Church, 15000 W. Wadsworth Road in Wadsworth.

From his bio in the Spring 2003 issue of The Asylum, where he ran for a seat on the NBS Board:

He began to collect coins at the age of eight and has continued this pursuit since that time. Phil is a life member of the ANA and ANS, president of the Barber Coin Collector's Society and a member of many specialty collector groups. His main collecting interests lie in the US Barber and Bust half dimes series, and in Canadian decimal coinage and colonial tokens. He has an extensive library with particular emphasis on references with significant Canadian content. Phil has been a member of NBS for nearly ten years and is a strong supporter of the objectives and key role this group plays in numismatics.

Philip J. Carrigan (73) passed away January 29, 2018. He joined the Chicago Coin Club May 10, 1989 as member 1013. Phil was a life member of the American Numismatic Association (ANA), served as the Education Chairman at the Chicago 1999 ANA Convention, worked as a volunteer at Chicago’s 2011, 2013-15 ANA Conventions and received the ANA Presidential Award in 2014.

Phil had a deep interest in Barber coinage. In 1989 he became a charter member of the Barber Coin Collectors’ Society, served as President (1994-2015), made many contributions to their journal and received their 2015 Award of Appreciation. He was a charter member of the John Reich Collectors Society and a member of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society where he also served on their Board.

Phil collected Canadian and Maritime decimal coins and tokens, was a life member of the Canadian Numismatic Association and attended most of their annual conventions.

Phil was an avid collector of Canadian and United States numismatic literature, including books, auction catalogues, fixed price lists and related material. He enjoyed reading the history of early collectors as told through the auction of their collections. His library was so large, he frequently wondered if it was too heavy for the second floor of his home. Phil was a recognized figure at most major numismatic literature auctions and recognized as an expert in the field.

A native of Massachusetts, Phil earned an undergraduate pharmacy degree from Massachusetts College of Pharmacy, a master’s degree from Northeastern University and a Ph.D. in pharmacokinetics from the University of Connecticut. He finished graduate studies at University of Buffalo. He joined Abbott Laboratories in 1974 and served for thirty years working in the area of pharmaceutical research and development. In 1985 he was inducted into Abbott’s prestigious Volwiler Society which recognizes their most distinguished scientists and engineers.

Phil is survived by his wife Mary Clare Jakes, daughter Erin Carrigan, son-in- law Jeremy Bell and twin granddaughters Audrey and Elizabeth.

Phil was a dedicated volunteer and advocate in Waukegan and Lake County, Illinois. He was elected as a Trustee at the College of Lake County and also served as Chairman of the Board. He worked tirelessly with numerous organizations dedicated to helping the homeless, the hungry and visiting prisoners. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Eddie Washington Center, which provides transitional housing for homeless single men in Lake County Illinois.

Phil was a great supporter of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society and past officer. He was a regular at the NBS annual meetings for many years, and always eager to share his knowledge. He will be missed.

I didn’t know Phil well, but he always had a pleasant greeting and brief conversation when our paths would cross at various coin shows and conventions. I will miss those exchanges.

I was shocked and saddened to hear that Phil Carrigan had passed away.He was a wonderful friend of mine. It seems that in the last few years we have lost too many collectors of numismatic literature.

I first met Phil more than twenty years ago. It may have been at an ANA convention, or a Baltimore coin show. We quickly became friends. Phil at that time had a small library but was not a collector of numismatic literature. I believe that I helped to make him one. We often called each other,and those calls would last at least an hour. He eventuality built a fine numismatic library.

We roomed together at several ANA conventions. I especially remember one at Cleveland in the Spring of 1997. Charles Davis conducted an outstanding sale of numismatic literature. It seemed like a who's who of literature collectors at that time attended the sale. Both Phil and I were successful bidders in that sale.

Phil was also a collector of Canadian coins, and regularly attended the CNA convention. One year his trip to Canada was delayed as he was rebuffed as he tried to board his flight. His passport had expired. He had forgotten to renew it.

As stated in the newspaper article, Phil was a person who cared for the welfare of others. He would often mention to me of his work with prisoners, trying to get them to turn their lives around. He was a good man!

The first thing you noticed about Phil Carrigan was his impressive height. The second was the accent that demonstrated the Bostonian roots of this transplanted Midwesterner. Only then did you discover that he was a genial giant in many fields both numismatic (Canadian numismatic literature, for example), and not.

We intersected in a couple of those fields, namely pharmaceuticals and philanthropy. Phil’s career as a pharmaceutical researcher with Abbott Laboratories and my residence in Kalamazoo, the home of the Upjohn Company, gave us plenty of room to needle each other about which firm had done more to advance the cause of human health. Phil ultimately prevailed in this dispute when Abbott remained an independent company, while Upjohn, sadly, disappeared down the gaping maw of Pfizer.

We also had lively discussions about the many charitable organizations that both Phil and his wife Mary Clare actively supported. Especially during the time I was a Program Director for the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, one of the nation’s top five grantmaking foundations, Phil skillfully lobbied for support for the human service and educational charities that were dear to his heart.

We so easily fall into the habit of calling someone a “good guy” that the term has become faint praise. In Phil’s case, however, calling him a good guy should be understood as a very high form of praise. Whether in his professional life as a researcher, or in his his private life as a volunteer, he was all about the alleviation of human suffering. That is about as good as a good guy can get.