Brooke Merritt
Information provided by email from James Foard
10/9/2009
This is in response to the question about Brooke Merritt's death. I saw Brooke several times over many years in Japan, where he was stationed in the Navy and where I was often doing research as a grad student and then professor. Later, he returned to Washington to work in the Pentagon and then retired to become what he called a "beltway bandit" (i.e., a representative of a military contractor). During the Gulf War under the first President Bush, he was recalled into the Navy. He later told me that this recall had been very fortunate, because shortly after he rejoined the Navy he had been diagnosed with cancer and the Navy was at that time taking excellent care of him. He died shortly after that conversation. I cannot remember the exact year, but it was soon after the Gulf War. While in Japan, he married a wonderful woman from Hong Kong name Winnie, who shared perfectly Brooke's dry wit. They made quite a pair. Winnie is, I believe, still teaching in the Washington area. Perhaps someone else knows more.
James Foard
