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Post-Conference Issue November 2000

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One of the most difficult decisionswhich faced the Executive Committeethis past year was the selection of anawardee of the Albert S. Osborn Awardof Excellence. The award itself wasapproved at the Executive Committeemeeting held at Scottsdale, AZ inAugust of 1997. However, thedaunting task was to choose onecandidate who met the followingcriteria:

A. The recipient must be a livingmember in good standing of theAmerican Society of QuestionedDocument Examiners and may beeither a regular or life member atthe time of the nomination.

B. The recipient must have beenactive in the field of questioneddocument examination for a periodof at least twenty-five years andmust have been a member of theASQDE for a period of at leasttwenty years.

C. The award shall only be bestowedon persons who have attainedexceptional distinction in terms of:

1. Cumulative activities, such asprofessional research orliterary accomplishmentswhich advance the fieldof questioned documentexamination, and

2. Outstanding service to theASQDE over a long period oftime, such service resulting ingenerally recognized andbeneficial improvements inthe Society.

The number of truly qualifiedindividuals within the Society who meetthese criteria had stymied the ExecutiveCommittee from granting the inauguralaward. It was believed to be appropriatethat in the year 2000, we should beginthe process of recognizing thosemembers who have dedicated theircareers to the advancement ofquestioned document examination and,in particular to those who have providedthe leadership of the Society, making itthe most recognized professionalorganization of questioned documentexaminers.

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Robert J. Muehlberger

Mr. James V. P. Conway had onceexpressed the desire to become theworld’s best expert on questioneddocuments. During a career with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service that beganin 1939, Mr. Conway pursued that goalwith an intensity and drive that was atonce recognized by Inspection Servicemanagement as a valued asset to theorganization. His initial goal wassubordinated several times when he wascalled upon to serve in a number ofmanagement positions, culminating asDeputy Postmaster General of the U.S.Postal Service.

The Albert S. Osborn Award of Excellence awarded to James V. P. Conway

Post-Conference Issue November 2000

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Since 1940, Mr. Conway has qualified as an expertwitness in federal, state, military and territorial courts and

before grand juries and other judicialbodies in over 600 cases involvingvirtually every aspect of questioneddocument examination.

Mr. Conway has willingly given ofhis time to assist in the training ofquestioned document examiners andhas often been the primary instructorfor some of the American Board ofForensic Document Examiners(ABFDE) sponsored seminars. He hasserved as a Director with ABFDE andmany have witnessed his incisivequestioning of certification examinees.Although a session with Mr. Conwaywas often a very daunting one for theyoung examiner, he has alwaysexpressed that you should not beafraid of failure, and to confront thedifficult problems: “it will make youhumble.”

Even while serving in these management positions, hecontinued to be professionally involved in questioneddocument examination andcontributed as a member of ASQDEby preparing papers for presentationat the Annual General Meetings.Many of these papers dealt with therole of the questioned documentexaminer in some of the managementproblems which he faced, from howevidence is collected and used, to theuse of questioned documentexamination in arbitration hearings. Inall, Mr. Conway prepared andpresented over ninety articles andpapers and authored a reference textin 1959, Evidential Documents, thatis still widely used today byquestioned document examiners.

Upon his retirement from the U. S.Postal Service in 1980, Mr. Conwayreturned to the San Francisco areawhere he began and then resumed full-time his career in questioned document examination.

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Mr. Conway was a long time memberof the American Academy of ForensicSciences and received the“Distinguished Fellow Award” inFebruary of 2000. Mr. Conway hasserved in the various positions on theSociety’s Executive Committee andsucceeded two of his formercolleagues with the U. S. PostalInspection Service San FranciscoCrime Laboratory, John Shimoda andDavid Crown, as President of theAmerican Society of QuestionedDocument Examiners from 1988 – 1990.

Congratulations to Mr. James V. P.Conway, the winner of the 2000 AlbertS. Osborn Award of Excellence!

James V. P. Conway

Joe Nemecek, James V. P. Conway, and Paul Osborn at the 1990 ASQDE AGM