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Update from June 13

Hope Has Faded For Md. Publisher
Lost in Bay, Merrill Is Presumed Dead

By Elizabeth Williamson and Mary Otto
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, June 13, 2006; Page A01

Philip Merrill, the tenacious regional publisher and diplomat who never strayed from his beloved Chesapeake Bay for long, was presumed dead yesterday, two days after his unmanned sailboat was found about 20 miles from his Annapolis home.

Although acknowledging that "anything is possible," Maryland Natural Resources Police Superintendent Mark S. Chaney said investigators concluded yesterday morning that "we're now outside the window of probability of survival." The U.S. Coast Guard ended its search yesterday afternoon.

Philip Merrill disappeared from his sailboat Saturday. (John T. Consoli - John T. Consoli)

Merrill, 72, whose Annapolis-based publishing holdings included Washingtonian magazine and the Capital newspaper, was assistant secretary general to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in the early 1990s and president of the Export-Import Bank of the United States from 2002 until last year. Throughout his working life, he took time away from his business interests to pursue diplomatic and intelligence assignments for the government. He served six administrations, mostly in the State and Defense departments.

Although Merrill was a devoted internationalist, friends and colleagues say, he remained most at home in this region, where, on land or sea, he reigned as benevolent but undisputed captain of his ship.

"Where else but in Washington would you find a person like Phil Merrill?" wondered Richard Carlson, a former ambassador who was on the same team as Merrill during war games run by the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the late 1980s.

A businessman who went from running a collection of small newspapers to running an international bank, Merrill was somebody "who was in and out of government, who knew all these things that I didn't expect him to know . . . such a renaissance guy," Carlson said.

His presumed death raises questions about his publications, some of which are jointly owned by Norfolk-based Landmark Communications. Last night, as the Washingtonian's July issue went to the printers, the staff deleted Merrill's name from the top of the masthead and replaced it with that of his wife, Eleanor.

"He was in here Friday afternoon, and I said, 'Phil, we haven't been writing enough people stories,' " said John Limpert, Washingtonian's longtime editor. "He and Ellie were going to think about some good stories about people over the weekend."

"Everyone," Limpert added, "is trying to put themselves on that boat and figure out what happened."

Merrill's 41-foot sailboat, Merrilly, was found empty, under full sail and with its motor off, by two people on personal watercraft Saturday night. His wallet was found aboard, and police do not suspect foul play. Authorities would not comment on published reports that blood was found on the boat. Merrill was probably not wearing a life jacket, investigators have said.

Since Saturday, the search has focused on a nine-mile stretch of the bay between the mouth of the Severn River and Kent Island, a favorite route that Merrill often sailed alone when he couldn't persuade friends to join him.

Chaney said yesterday that police will search a 100-square-mile area from Annapolis north to Plum Point, where the boat was found, "until we find him." The recovery mission -- employing six boats, one equipped with sonar, and 15 officers -- covered about 10 miles yesterday.

The team plans to concentrate on the course that Merrill's family believes he set when he sailed Saturday afternoon. As time passes, the search will move southward.

The search yesterday attracted a varied cast of the hopeful that reflected Merrill's larger-than-life persona and his many interests. Grizzled sailors and Chesapeake Bay Foundation researchers, neighbors, politicians, academics and entrepreneurs helped out or waited for news.

But as the rain and fog shrouding the Bay Bridge dispersed about midday, so, too, did most hopes that Merrill had escaped the cold water. Chaney said a person of Merrill's age could not be expected to survive more than a few hours in the 62-degree water.

But with a man so vital -- cussed, some would say -- it was tempting to imagine him cheating fate, friends said

Merrill was remembered yesterday as a man who never shrank from confrontation and who prided himself on beating the odds in business.

He was "mercurial, brilliant . . . one of the grand terrors of Washington journalism," said Bill Regardie, whose now-defunct business magazine listed Merrill as one of Washington's 100 richest people in 1988.

At the University of Maryland's Philip Merrill College of Journalism, a bronze plaque commemorates Feb. 9, 2001, the day Merrill announced his $10 million gift to the school. The plaque bears a quote from the publisher: "In a world that's dominated in large measure by the communications revolution, sound journalistic values and capabilities are more important than ever."

Steve Crane, the assistant dean, was pulling together photos and biographical information about Merrill, and he watched once more a videotape of the festive day when Merrill bestowed his gift on the school -- with clear instructions that the money be spent on students, faculty and equipment. He underscored that demand, Crane said, with a promise: "I'll be back here in 10 years."

Crane added: "If, in actuality, he's gone -- and I'll be the last person to abandon hope -- Phil will have left a legacy. And that's not something all of us can say."

At the Capital-Gazette Newspapers in Annapolis, which Merrill has owned for more than three decades, Capital editorial cartoonist Eric Smith said he struggled to sketch a publisher whose personality wasn't easy to capture in ink and paper. "I've come to grips with it now. He's gone. I'm going to miss him," he said.

Longtime staff members recalled the publisher yelling during arguments over content or editorial policy. "We knew when he got angry," said Joe Gross, senior sports writer, who started at the paper 33 years ago and developed a close relationship with Merrill. "He would bang on the desk, clap his hands and pace back and forth."

Tom Marquardt, the executive editor, acting as the Merrill family spokesman, said that when it came to the paper, Merrill was all about community. "He's given us the mission to focus on local news and local faces, and he always expected nothing but the best," he said.

Eleanor Merrill assumed the job of publisher when her husband led the Export-Import Bank. But he did not have an heir apparent, and he was not grooming a successor, several friends and colleagues said. None of the three Merrill children has been deeply involved in the family publishing business.

"It was pretty much a one-man show," newspaper analyst John Morton said.

Staff writers Megan Greenwell, Ray Rivera, Shearon Roberts and Annys Shin contributed to this report.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/12/AR2006061200429_2.html