You know, I have done many interviews and that seems to be a question that I get asked often. So, a long time ago I started to count - 1, 2, 3, 100, 101 and I got up to about 400 and figured this is crazy! I have several thousand. I have boxes full of PEZ. I have everything PEZ. I'm addicted! I'm a PEZ-a-holic!
I got started collecting in the late 80's. I used to sell antiques at flea markets - a sideline business. I never really collected anything. Someone told me I should collect something. So, one day I was in a grocery store and saw a PEZ dispenser. I remembered having PEZ as a kid so I bought it. It has been downhill since!

Well, let’s see. How can I explain this? Like I said before, I'm a PEZ-a-holic. To feed my habit I started to deal in PEZ. Whatever I made I put back into my collection. So I got pretty involved in the PEZ hobby as a dealer. Then, there was only one PEZ newsletter for collectors back then. They were calling it quits. I didn't want to see that happen. The PEZ hobby needed a newsletter. I thought; how hard can it be to write a newsletter? BTW- I had no computer or typing expierence to speak. In my Junior High typing class I cheated-I looked at the keys and still do. Believe it or not, English wasn't my best subject in High School either. Email and the Internet at that time was just starting to grow. So, here I am happily doing my newsletter a couple years later, collecting PEZ and having a grand ole time. Since I lived within driving distance of "The PEZ White House" and I had an excuse to go visit "The PEZident" and his loyal following. Oh, I mean I lived close to the PEZ factory in Orange, CT and had a reason to meet with the PEZ execs from time to time. Then, there it was! On one of my "business trips" to PEZ I saw this brand new hotel right around the corner from the PEZ factory! I said to myself, "self, that’s the perfect place to hold a PEZ convention". So, then the Northeast PEZ Convention in CT was born. A couple years after that I thought how much I liked Myrtle Beach and that would be great place to have a fall get together… another convention. If that wasn't enough, then I was talking to another collector who happened to be a travel agent and she talked to me about cruises. So, I thought that getting PEZheads together for a cruise would be a good idea and "PEZheads at Sea" was born. Through all of this, one thing I always had in the back of my mind was to make a PEZ licensed item for collectors. Then it hit me, PEZ licensed collector pins. So, PEZ Pinz was born. One thing this all taught me, I have to stop thinking. I only get myself into trouble when I think. I never intended to step up and be an organizer. Things just fell into place. But like they say, things happen for a reason. So, when my Mother gave me a piece of PEZ candy 45 years ago I bet she had no idea what it would do to me.

You know, that is a tough question. They all are my favorite. It’s tough to pin down just 2 dispensers. Well... Ok....One would be the Policeman PEZ Pal dispenser. Because I was a Police Officer I would have to say that one. The other dispenser would be Coca Marsh Spaceman. Now, which would I save? I would have to save the Spaceman because I remember having one of them as a kid. That’s the reason I started to collect PEZ. My fond memories of PEZ as a kid. Did I mention that I have this big vending machine in my office because I remember getting PEZ from a vending machine? Sorry, back to your question. Knowing Cops the way I do I know the Policeman PEZ Pal can save himself! If he couldn’t save himself then I would have to use one of the other 20 or so Policeman PEZ Pal dispensers in my collection to be my favorite Policeman PEZ Pal dispenser. Every good Cop has back up!

Well, most of the conventions still have a "floor show". The going “room to room”, us PEZheads in the hobby call it "Room Hopping". Room Hopping is more like an added bonus. To me, when you go Room Hopping it feels like when I was a young boy going "Trick or Treating". You run from room to room collecting goodies. Except you have to pay for the goodies and the prize you get is PEZ dispensers. Oh, there are no eggs or shaving cream involved, but that’s another story.

Does being the Editor of a PEZ newsletter make me a literary figure? Ok... Guess it wouldn't be me. Well, then my next choice would be to make an Edward Hass III PEZ dispenser. He is the one that invented PEZ candy and if it wasn’t for him we wouldn’t be worshiping those little plastic dispensers. Amen! Praise to the PEZ god! Now, I'm sure I had seen a picture of him. But you know people don’t really make interesting PEZ dispensers unless they look unique. So, I would make him look kind of like Abe Lincoln. Ok, so maybe a PEZ dispenser that looks like Abe won’t sell, so maybe that Newsletter Editor PEZ dispenser isn’t such a bad choice?

PEZ...die??? What are you crazy! I take good care of my PEZ. I dust them, talk to them and they tell me how they feel. If they don’t feel good I take them to the PEZ Doctor, Ha Ha...I bet I had you for a minute there! The PEZ don't talk-back silly! LOL!!! But I do take care of them. If one is broken I try to fix it. If it can't be fixed I save it. I just can't throw any PEZ away.