The Board for Certification of Genealogists shares the sad news of the passing of Kay Haviland Freilich, CG®, FNGS, past President of BCG from 2002–2004, a trustee from 1999–2006 and 2011, and Member-at-Large from 2008–2010. Kay also served as the BCG Skillbuilding Track Coordinator at the 2015 NGS Family History Conference in St. Charles, Missouri.

First awarded CGRS (Certified Genealogical Records Specialist) no. 707 in 1994, Kay became Certified Genealogist® no. 420 in 1999, and was CGL℠ (Certified Genealogical Lecturer) no. 26 from 2003–2018.

In 2012, she was elected a Fellow of the National Genealogical Society. Kay’s article on Pennsylvania research first appeared in the NGS Quarterly in 2000. As a result, she was asked to author, expand, and update Research in Pennsylvania in 2003, 2007, and 2016 for the NGS Research in the States series. In 2014, NGS published Genealogy and the Law: A Guide to Legal Sources for the Family Historian which Kay wrote with her husband William, an attorney.

Her contributions as an author, lecturer, and leader have enriched and inspired our community.

The words Certified Genealogist and its acronym, CG, are a registered certification mark, and the designations Certified Genealogical Lecturer and its acronym, CGL, are service marks of the Board for Certification of Genealogists®, used under license by board certificants after periodic evaluation.