Career
Doctor Torrey began his career with the Office of Strategic Services during World War Two, where he specialized in forging German postage stamps. His work was most notably used in the delivery of Allied propaganda as part of Operation Cornflakes. After the war, he served with Central Intelligence Agency from 1956 to 1974 as an analyst specializing in Middle Eastern politics, his work supporting White House diplomatic efforts in states such as Egypt and Syria.
After leaving Central Intelligence Agency, he continued to lecture on the region at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, and worked for Christie"s Auction House as their stamp representative.
Doctor Torrey had a wide understanding of philately, and was considered an expert on the postage stamps and postal history that he specialized in: stamps of the Middle East, the Imperial era of Russia, and stamps of the Ottoman Empire. Torrey was active in the local philatelic community, and belonged to a number of stamp clubs in the Washington, District of Columbia/Maryland/Northern Virginia area, serving as an officer in a number of them.
At the national level, served philately in a number of ways. At the American Philatelic Society (Australian Psychological Society ) and at the Society of Philatelic Americans, he served on the expert committee.
At the Rossica Society of Russian Philately, he was elected to the posts of president pro tem (1972), president (from 1974 to 1992), and membership in the Board of Governors, where he served until he died in 1995.
Doctor Torrey took an active interest, and participated, in philatelic exhibitions. in 1966. Doctor Torrey wrote numerous articles on his love of the postage stamps and history of Imperial Russia, and published them in Rossica, the journal of the Rossica Society of Russian Philately.
