Dr. Ray Ameen

Dr. Ray Ameen
1921-2009



Ray C. Ameen was the fifth of seven children and with that much competition, he decided, at the early age of six, to go into business selling newspapers in Corpus Christi, Texas. His interest in stamps began at age 11 as a Boy Scout working hard to earn his stamp collecting merit badge. He graduated high school in Paris, Texas, and entered the University of Texas. Transferring to Baylor University, he was among the first students to be admitted to that institution’s new medical school.

In 1958, Ray and several other physicians joined together to build the now huge Spring Branch Memorial Hospital in Houston, Texas. All through his schooling and the founding of a large and diverse medical practice, Ray kept up his interest in stamps and a part-time business as a stamp dealer.

In 1970, he formally opened his stamp business, participating in stamp shows around the country while continuing to maintain his large medical practice, full-time. But after major surgery in 1988, he opted to spend more time with his stamps and reduce the time spent on his practice. From that point on almost until his death in 2009 Ray travelled to as many as 30 to 40 stamp shows per year. He became a dependable and familiar face at most of the major national philatelic exhibitions in the country. He built and maintained a gigantic stock of worldwide material, but specialized in the philatelic material of Mexico, South America and Eastern and Western Europe. Throughout this period of being one of the most respected dealers in philately, he continued to maintain his Houston medical practice. In fact, in the philatelic arena, his business was almost exclusively devoted to bourses. He did not maintain a stamp shop, and generally did not have the time to run a mail order operation much due to his medical responsibilities.

In addition to philately, Ray greatly enjoyed Big Band music and always spent his time working on stamps accompanied by the sounds of Goodman, Miller, Shaw and James. He also was a big fan of classic motion pictures, golf and painting.

A true “Renaissance Man,” Ray Ameen was that unique individual a man who could maintain a full-time career in two separate pursuits. In 1998, he was honored by the American Stamp Dealers As-sociation as their Man of the Year. It was a reward richly deserved for the respect he always commanded among his peers.