Approximately 1,000 of Philip Merrill’s friends and family members gathered at one of the largest auditoriums in the city to remember the publisher and former ambassador who is believed to have taken his own life on his sailboat in the Chesapeake Bay.
The atmosphere was one of celebration, not mourning.
Not every one has the Vice President making jokes at their service.
“Phil wasn’t really a company man, unless he owned the company,” said Vice President Dick Cheney at the Andrew Mellon Auditorium, “you could quite like a man so enthusiastic.”
From the patriotic medleys of Friends of the School of Music of the University of Maryland to the cookies and ice cream, an upbeat and joyful atmosphere was created.
Every speaker had their own personal anecdotes to share about “Phil,” from the vice president to his three children, Washingtonian editor John Limpert and James Woolsey Jr.
“My father was bar none the most embarrassing dad,” said his daughter Nancy Merrill, suppressing a chuckle before recounting tales of leaving for college. “With the exception of last month, our father was the same at your dinner table as he was at ours.”
Her father, she said, loved to talk about politics, world affairs, newspapering and family matters in his thundering voice. “At our house, there were several phrases, we never said … one was ‘Would you speak up, son.’
The congregation laughed out loud at times, yet friends were reminded of the family he leaves behind. “One of the first questions I get asked is ‘What was he like as a father’ ” said Douglas Merrill. “I think it was pretty typical that as I grew up, he knew everything, then less, then a lot more when I turned 20.”
