Hope Has Faded For Md. Publisher

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.