Biography
Frederick M. Finney
By Gladys Turner Finney
Frederick Marshall Finney (November 18, 1941-August 16, 2008) was an historian, numismatic writer, social economist. He was founder of Confrontation Change Review and Challenge Press.1
Early life
Frederick Marshall Finney was born November 18, 1941 in Troy Alabama, only child of Marshall Finney and Lucille McNair Harris Finney.
A studious child with an inquiring mind, young Finney read Sears & Roebuck catalogs and day old Wall Street Journals and New York Times left by the County Health Officer. His mother scoured garbage cans for books for him to read. He became an avid reader, a life-long learner that led to further education in traditional programs and correspondence courses.2
Education
He graduated from Academy Street High School in Troy in 1960, valedictorian of the class. He entered Wilberforce University, withdrew to enlist in the U.S. Air Force (1962-65) but returned to Wilberforce graduating with a B.A. in History in 1967. He earned the L.L.B. degree from Blackstone Law School (1969), the M.A.T. in Educational Administration and Social Science, Antioch-Putney (1969), Master of Science in Economics, Wright State University (1973), B.S. in Accounting & Operations Management (1994), Regents College, University of the State College of New York and performed doctoral study in Economics at the University of Cincinnati. He was a graduate of the Professional Military
Comptroller School (PMCS), Maxwell Air Force Base (Alabama), April, 1996.3
Career
Frederick M. Finney served as Program Evaluation Director for Dayton, Ohio Model Cities Program (1970-1976). Model Cities was transformative and the most fruitful endeavor of his career. The focus was systemic changes. Customer services, maximum citizen participation, and service delivery which affirmed individual rights to services were guiding principles for Dayton’s Program Evaluation.4
A gifted and well-educated man, Finney was “part of the Brain Trust of Model Cities.” He and his staff documented the history and achievements of Dayton’s Model Cities Program. These documents are a historical and enduring legacy of the city, its residents, and public servants.
Growing up black, poor and smart in the Jim Crow South, Frederick M. Finney was familiar with inequality. His personal values, strengths and intellectual yearning were shaped by these experiences. His parents were elderly and he “had seen and heard their trials of despair and the promises of hope.” From them he “gained the wealth of philosophical analysis of events, times and conditions and, the cynicism of acute perception.” “Things did not have to be the way they were and were that way because, someone caused them to be that way,” his father would say with prophetic insight, “that even the acts of God were suspicious.”5
Frederick M. Finney believed strongly in equality of opportunity, justice and achievement. It was at Antioch-Putney Graduate School of Education and internship at the Greene County Opportunities Industrialization Center ( OIC) under Mrs. Maggie McKnight that he adopted the idea of change-agent. He believed African Americans could work together as a group to come up with viable solutions to problems facing their community. From 1978 to 1983 Finney was a part-time professor in the Department of Political Science at Sinclair Community College. He was a vigorous advocate for education and encouraged staff
at Model Cities and students to seek careers in community service.6
Finney’s short story Delta Tractor Driver and Mr. Charlie (1966) and Notes on a Riot: Parchmans Corner (1967) were published in the North American Review. But it was his love for history and currency collecting that would lead him to prolific numismatic writings.
At age fourteen Frederick M. Finney became interested in the hobby of coin and paper collecting (1955) when he acquired a Booker T. Washington commemorative half dollar and a $10.00 series 1929 Chase National Bank Note. He wrote that his interest was also enhanced by work as a part-time janitor and posting clerk in a bank one summer while in high school.7
He began writing articles and book reviews on a freelance basis in 1978. During this time he founded Confrontation Change/Review, Challenge Press, and Economic Research Center, Inc. Of the several hundred articles he wrote, most were in numismatic publications. He combined his knowledge of history and his hobby of collecting currency into numismatic studies on the “historical significance of currency and commemoratives.” His articles appeared in all the major numismatic publications, Bank Note Reporter, Coin World, Coins Magazine, COINage, World Coin News, The Numismatist, and Numismatic News.8
Personal Life
Frederick M. Finney was married thirty-six years to Gladys Turner Finney. He retired March 1, 2002 from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (Ohio) as a Military Cost Analyst. He died August 16, 2008 in Dayton, Ohio.
References
1. Personal Papers of Frederick M. Finney
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.
7. Ibid.
8. Ibid.
Selected Bibliography
. Evaluation Plan: Dayton, Ohio Model Cities Program. (August, 1970)
Frederick M. Finney.
. Dayton, (Ohio) Model Cities Program Year 2 Annual Report, Frederick
M. Finney.
. Final Evaluation Report of the Model Cities Training Institute of the
Dayton-Miami Valley Consortium. 1971-74. Frederick M. Finney,
Principal Investigator.
Selected Numismatic Writings
.The Booker T. Washington-Washington Carver Commemorative Coin,
Numismatics News, July 12, 1980.
. The Three Notch Trail Notes, Bank Note Reporter, December 1980.
. Broken Bank Notes of the Depression, Bank Note Reporter December,
1980.
. Benjamin F. Butler: The Man behind the Army of the James Medal,
The Numismatist, April 1984.
. A Short History of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank, World Coin News,
1983.
. History of Winter’s Bank (Dayton) Bank Note Reporter, July 1982.
. History of Simmons Bank (Arkansas), Bank Note Reporter, September
1982.
. The Fractional Federalist, Bank Note Reporter, January 1983.
. History of Blacks in Banking, Bank Note Reporter, September 1983.
. Coinage and Currency of Panama, World Coin News, December 1983.
. Isaac Scott Hathaway: An Uncommon Artist, The Numismatist, April
2000.
. Jefferson Critical of Early Coinage Proposal, Coin World, May 1, 1991.
. Judah P. Benjamin, ‘Brain of the Confederacy,’ Bank Note Reporter, June
1984.
. Governor Alcorn & the Mississippi Carpetbagger Currency, Bank Note
Reporter, June 1980.
. Rations Coupons and WWII, The Numismatist, November 1982.
. The U.S. Half-Cent, COINage, September 1982.
. History of Ethiopian Coins and Currency, World Coin News.
. The Musical Coins of Austria, Coin Magazine, June 1981.
. The Big New York City Banks, Bank Note Reporter, September 1981.
. The Bank of America, Bank Note Reporter, April 1981.
. W.S. Rosecrans: From General to Civil Servant, Bank Note Reporter,
March 1981.
. The Numismatic Legacy of U.S. Grant, Coin World, June 3, 1981.
. The Ice Man Cometh, The Numismatist, November 1981.
. Wright Brothers Aviation Medal, Numismatic News, April 24, 1983.
. Modern Canadian Currency, Coins Magazine, March 1984.
. The Slavery Bank Notes, Bank Note reporter, January 1982.
. The Grand Army of the Republic, Coin World, Part 1,
September 23, 1981, Part 2, September 30, 1981, Part 3,
October 14, 1981.
. Warren G. Harding’s Numismatic Legacy, Coin World,
November 11, 1981.
Memberships and Certifications
American Numismatic Association (ANA), 150757
American Society of Military Comptrollers (ASMC)
Amer Temple 107 (Dayton, Ohio), A.E.A.O.N.M.S.
Certified Cost Estimator/Analyst (SCEA), N0 743.
Harmony Lodge NO.77 (Prince Hall)
NAACP (Life member), 9265674
Society of Paper Money Collectors (SPMC)
Wilberforce University Alumni Association (Life Member), N0 236
Omicron Delta Epsilon Honor Society in Economics
Delta Tau Kappa Honor Society in Social Science