Robert Panara (Distinguished Americans series)
The 16th stamp in the Distinguished Americans series honors Robert Panara (1920-2014), an influential teacher and a pioneer in the field of deaf studies. The stamp features a 2009 photograph of Panara. He is shown signing the word “respect.” During his 40-year teaching career, Panara inspired generations of students with his powerful use of American Sign Language. Panara taught at Gallaudet University in Washington, DC for nearly 20 years and at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (part of the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York state). Art director Ethel Kessler designed the stamp with an existing photograph by Mark Benjamin, official photographer of the National Technical Institute for the Deaf in Rochester.