Annapolis Publisher Is Still Missing

Merrill, a self-made millionaire, is known as a passionate newsman, most recently with his editorial stands against soaring electricity rates expected to hit Maryland residents this summer. Reese Cleghorn, a longtime friend, said Merrill conducts himself like an old-school newspaper publisher in an era in which grand, boisterous personalities have largely disappeared from the corporate suites of newsrooms.

Cleghorn, former dean of the University of Maryland's College of Journalism, described Merrill as "feisty, blunt, no-nonsense" and "very much a presence."

"In a room you'd know he was a presence. He'd be holding court."

Chuck Conconi, a former Washington Post columnist who later spent 15 years as editor-at-large at Washingtonian, recalled hearing Merrill occasionally screaming over the telephone at his editors in Annapolis and elsewhere.

"He had a temper, no question," Conconi said, "but I don't think anyone who worked for him feared him, and he was never abusive."

Tom Marquardt, executive editor of Merrill's flagship paper, the Capital, described Merrill as fiercely loyal to his employees.

"If he could be blamed for becoming excited about things, it's because he was passionate," Marquardt said, "passionate about journalism, passionate about the Chesapeake Bay, passionate about putting out one of the best newspapers he could."

At home, friends said they know Merrill as a soft touch, devoted to his wife and their children, Douglas, Cathy and Nancy. "I remember one of his daughters telling a story about how their father never went to the grocery store and the one time he does, the checkout clerk asks 'paper or plastic,' and he handed her a credit card," Conconi said. Merrill and his wife throw large parties twice a year at their home. Vice President Cheney and former secretary of state Colin L. Powell were at the most recent one, June 4, said Cleghorn, who also attended. Friends said Merrill relishes belonging to Washington's social and political elites.

In 2000, he gave the Chesapeake Bay Foundation $7.5 million for its new headquarters in Annapolis. The next year, he gave $10 million to U-Md.'s College of Journalism. Both now bear his name.

He explained to the Baltimore Sun in 2001 that his children were grown and educated and, "We've got a place to live. I've got a 41-foot boat, and I don't need an 81-foot boat. It's payback time."

An immigrant's son, Merrill was born in Baltimore, grew up in New York and Connecticut and was managing editor of Cornell University's student newspaper, where he marked up the morning paper with a red pencil and dreamed of working at the New York Times.

After receiving a degree in government, Merrill worked at smaller papers in New Jersey until joining the State Department in 1961, in his first foray into public service.

In 1968, he returned to journalism when he bought a majority share of what was then the Annapolis Evening Capital and began expanding his publishing enterprise. By 1988 he made the list of Washington's 100 richest, developed by the now-defunct Regardie's magazine.

Merrill is chairman of the board of Capital-Gazette Communications Inc., which publishes Washingtonian, the Capital and five other Maryland newspapers.

President Bush appointed him president of the Export-Import Bank of the United States in 2002. His term ended last summer.

Merrill also served as assistant secretary-general of NATO in Brussels and has served on the Department of Defense Policy Board and as counselor to the undersecretary of defense for policy. In 1988, the secretary of defense awarded him the Distinguished Service Medal, the department's highest civilian honor.

Staff writers Adam Bernstein and Martin Weil contributed to this report.