Oriental Philatelic Association of London
© Martin Lovegrove 2011
Cafer Ertughrul
or Jeff as we all knew him.
It is with great sorrow and sadness that I have to inform you, and all of his philatelic friends, that our long standing member, Jeff, passed away peacefully on 3rd November 2009.
Jeff was born in 1936, in Famagusta village Avtepe (Agios Simeon). After graduating from Turkish Lycee in Nicosia he came to London in 1956. He studied Electronics in London Northern Polytechnic and joined British Telecom in 1962, remaining with them until his early retirement.
He acquired his philatelic interest as a child and pursued this interest later on in all philatelic circles. He joined the Cyprus Study Circle from its early existence and later joined OPAL, where he served as OPAL Editor for many years most admirably, obtaining international awards for the journals he put together. He also wrote extensively for other philatelic publications about Cyprus Philately.
He leaves behind his lovely and devoted wife Sheila and two sons in whom he had great pride. He will be sadly missed by all his friends.
Bash Orhan
Jeff was a great enthusiast! Nowhere was this made more obvious than in his enthusiasm for The Turkish Republic of North Cyprus, the territory where he was born. He used philately as the prime medium in which he could express this enthusiasm for the new state. He wrote extensively in many publications about the new stamps, linking to the background of the independent state. Some of these issues which he had helped design design. He had a comprehensive collection of covers and postmarks of the Turkish military and UN on the island, proving that postal history is not necessarily about the past.
Jeff became editor of the OPAL Journal in October 1982 (No. 153) and retained that position until August 2000 (No. 200). But again his enthusiasm burst through, because he continued to keep us all up to date with the new issues of Turkey and his beloved TRNC, right up until September this year.
Emotionally he will be missed, but in terms of practical contribution he will also leave something of a black hole behind him.
WCR