Rescue crews have begun searching the Chesapeake Bay for Philip Merrill '55, whose sailboat was found empty on Sunday by two boaters. The Coast Guard - operating under the assumption that Merrill fell overboard - has dispatched several aircraft and a boat in the search for the 72-year-old Cornell alumnus, who had been sailing alone on Saturday. Merrill's impressive career has spanned both politics and publishing. Most recently, he was the president and chairman of the Export-Import Bank of the United States. The college of journalism at the University of Maryland is aso named for him. In Ithaca, Merrill was the managing editor of the Cornell Daily Sun, "where he was known to obsessively mark up the morning paper with a red pencil and dreamed of working at the New York Times", according to the Washington Post. He also established the Merrill Presidential Scholars. We here at MetaEzra hope for our fellow Cornellians' speedy recovery and will continue to bring you the latest on the search efforts. UPDATE: We're saddened to learn that search and rescue crews say that it's unlikely that Merrill would have been able to survive an extended period of time like this in 62 degree water. Their operation has changed to recovery. We ask all Cornellians to keep the Merrill family in their thoughts and prayers.
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