Background on Philip and Eleanor Merrill

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COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- Philip (Phil) Merrill has combined publishing and public service throughout his career. He has served as an assistant secretary-general of NATO in Brussels, as special assistant to the Deputy Secretary of State and as a member of the Department of Defense Policy Board. He has represented the U.S. in negotiations on the Law of the Sea Conference, the International Telecommunications Union and various disarmament and exchange agreements with the Soviet Union.

Merrill serves on numerous boards including The University of Maryland College Park Foundation, the Aspen Institute, the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. He is a trustee of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, and contributed a lead gift toward construction of the foundation’s new headquarters building named the Philip Merrill Environmental Center.

Eleanor (Ellie) Merrill, a native of Scranton, Pa., is a trustee of her alma mater, Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa. She was a Congressional Liaison Officer for Latin America at the U.S. Department of State, and served as press secretary to U.S. Sen. Kenneth B. Keating (R-New York). She is a trustee of Ford's Theater and the Shakespeare Theater and serves on the community boards of the Kennedy Center and the National Aquarium. She has been a member of the University of Maryland College of Journalism Board of Visitors since its founding in 1983, and was named Board chairman in 1995.

The Merrills have three children -- Douglas, Cathy and Nancy -- and live on the Severn River near Annapolis. They also maintain residences in Washington, D.C., and Aspen, Colo.

Phil Merrill describes his Annapolis-based publishing company as "America’s oldest," now in its 273rd year of operation. It started in 1727 with the weekly Maryland Gazette, where one of its apprentice printers was famed editor and press freedom advocate John Peter Zenger. Some notes on other milestone's in the publishing company's history:

• The paper’s second publisher, Jonas Green, came from Philadelphia, where he learned the printing trade and journalistic ideals from Benjamin Franklin. Following the death of Jonas Green, his wife Anne Catharine Green published the paper for eight years (while raising 14 children), making her the first woman to be both editor and publisher of a newspaper in the American Colonies.
• The Evening Capital began publishing as a daily newspaper in May 1884, founded by William Abbott and printed on the Maryland Gazette’s press. Abbott bought the weekly Gazette shortly before World War I and formed Capital-Gazette Newspapers. Philip Merrill purchased Capital-Gazette Newspapers in 1968, later adding Baltimore magazine and Washingtonian magazine (1979) to the company. (Baltimore magazine was later sold.)
• In 1969, the Gazette went to twice-weekly publication, and in 1981 The Capital dropped the word "Evening" from its name. It is a weekday afternoon/Sunday morning paper with circulation exceeding 47,000.
• In 1987, Merrill built a printing plant and new offices for Capital-Gazette Communications on the western outskirts of Annapolis. The company publishes three other weeklies in addition to the Maryland Gazette: Bowie Blade-News, Crofton News-Crier and West County News.
• Author Alex Haley discovered a 1767 Maryland Gazette advertisement announcing the arrival in Annapolis of a ship carrying his ancestor, Kunta Kinte, from Africa, a crucial lead while researching Haley’s book "Roots."
• Capital-Gazette Newspapers supports an annual scholarship program for Anne Arundel County high schools. One exceptional student is selected competitively from each of the 12 accredited public high schools in Anne Arundel County, with each Academic All-Star Team winner chosen to receive a $1,000 scholarship toward college tuition. Three top students from the All-Star team are chosen to receive larger scholarship awards: $15,000 for first place, $10,000 for second place, $5,000 for third place.
• Phil Merrill, a 1955 graduate of Cornell University, provides annual funding there for the Merrill Presidential Scholars Program. These are awarded annually to students in the top five percent of Cornell's graduating class, selected from Cornell's seven undergraduate colleges.
• The Chesapeake Bay Foundation's new headquarters building at Bay Ridge in Annapolis was dedicated earlier this year as the Philip Merrill Environmental Center. Mr. Merrill's $7.5 million donation was the lead gift for the building project that houses one of the country's leading facilities for environmental programs and research.

For more information contact: Christopher Callahan (301) 405-2432

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