About This Stamp
The U.S. Postal Service® is proud to issue this semipostal stamp that helps raise funds to fight Alzheimer’s disease. As one of the top ten leading causes of death in the United States, Alzheimer’s destroys the minds of the people affected by it and poses enormous challenges for family members and caregivers. Today, Americans are increasingly committed to finding ways to prevent, treat, and someday stop this heartbreaking disease.
The artwork for this stamp is an illustration that first appeared on the 42-cent Alzheimer's Awareness stamp issued in 2008. It shows an elderly woman in profile with a caring hand on her shoulder, with the suggestion of sunlight behind her and clouds in front of and below her. On the 2008 stamp, she was facing left; the artwork for this stamp shows her facing right.
The most common form of dementia, Alzheimer’s disease is not a normal part of aging. It is a progressive, irreversible disorder that attacks nerve cells, or neurons, and their connections in the brain, causing memory loss, decrease in cognitive skill, and changes in behavior. The disease is named for Alois Alzheimer, the German physician who in 1906 discovered and described two hallmark signs of the disease in the brain — clumps of amyloid protein fragments and tangles of tau protein fibers — and linked them to observable symptoms.
More than 5.3 million Americans age 65 and older are estimated to have Alzheimer’s disease, a number predicted to rise as the population ages. The nation has also turned its attention to the type of dementia known as younger-onset or early-onset Alzheimer's, which affects individuals under age 65. In addition to the loss of memory and thinking abilities and ultimate decline for the person with the disease, Alzheimer's is infamous for the emotional and financial toll it can take on loved ones. Alzheimer's experts emphasize the importance of education and strongly encourage caregivers to reach out to local and national agencies and organizations for information and support.
The artist for this stamp was Matt Mahurin. Art director Ethel Kessler designed the stamp.
Sold at a price of 60 cents per First-Class™ stamp, this stamp is a semipostal. The price of a semipostal stamp pays for the First-Class™ single-piece postage rate in effect at the time of purchase plus an amount to fund causes that have been determined to be in the national public interest. By law, revenue from sales (minus postage and the reasonable reimbursement of costs to the Postal Service™) is to be transferred to a selected executive agency or agencies. Net proceeds from this stamp will be distributed to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Stamp Art Director
Ethel Kessler
Ethel Kessler is an award-winning designer and art director who has worked with corporations, museums, public and private institutions, professional service organizations, and now, the United States Postal Service.
After earning a B.F.A. in visual communications from the Maryland Institute College of Art, Kessler worked as a graphic designer and project manager for the exhibits division of the United States Information Agency. Her work was distributed internationally on subjects such as Immigration, Entrepreneurship, Renovation of American Cities, and the Bicentennial of 1976. She was also responsible for exhibits in Morocco, Botswana, and El Salvador.
In 1981, she established Kessler Design, Inc., for which she is creative director and designer. Clients have included the Clinton Government reorganization, the Smithsonian Institution, National Geographic Television, the National Park Service, and the American Institute of Architects.
She has been an art director for the U.S. Postal Service’s stamp development program for more than 25 years. As an art director for USPS, Kessler has been responsible for creating more than 500 stamp designs, including the Breast Cancer Research stamp illustrated by Whitney Sherman. Issued in 1998, the stamp is still on sale and has raised more $98 million for breast cancer research. Other Kessler projects include the popular and highly regarded Nature of America 120 stamp series, a collaboration with nationally acclaimed nature illustrator John Dawson, the 12-year Lunar New Year series with Kam Mak, the American Filmmaking: Behind the Scenes 10 stamps issued in 2003, a 2016 pane of stamps celebrating the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service, and the 2023 stamp honoring Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. And many, many others.
Stamp Artist
Greg Breeding
Greg Breeding is a graphic designer and principal of Journey Group, a design company he co-founded in 1992, located in Charlottesville, Virginia. He was creative director until 2013, at which time he began serving as president and continued in that role through 2023.
Breeding’s fascination with modernism began while studying design at Virginia Commonwealth University. His affinity with the movement continues and motivates his ongoing advanced studies at the Basel School of Design in Switzerland most every summer.
As an art director for postage stamp design since 2012, Breeding has designed more than 100 stamps covering a diverse array of subjects, from Star Wars droids and Batman to Harlem Renaissance writers and the transcontinental railroad.
His work has been recognized in annual design competitions held by Graphis, AIGA, PRINT magazine, and Communication Arts.
Breeding lives in North Garden, Virginia, with his wife and enjoys nothing so much as frolicking on the floor with his grandchildren.