Merilyn Helen Fink, bookkeeper and co-president of her synagogue’s sisterhood, dies – Baltimore Sun

Merilyn Helen Fink, a bookkeeper for her family’s packaging company and co-president of her synagogue’s sisterhood, died Wednesday at Roland Park Place of respiratory failure. Sudbrook Park, Baltimore County, resident was 94.

Born in Chicago, she was the daughter of Andrew Katz, an electrician, and Rose Fried, an accountant. She moved to Baltimore at the age of eight after her father died in a work accident.

As a young woman she lived on Rockrose Avenue and graduated from Forest Park High School in 1947. She became a medical secretary for an obstetrician on East Chase Street in Mount Vernon.

She later earned an associate degree from the University of Baltimore.

In 1951, she married Daniel M. Fink, a social worker she met at a fraternity dance at the University of Maryland, College Park.

After the birth of her children, Mrs. Fink became a bookkeeper at her family’s packaging company, ABC Box Co., on Leadenhall Street in South Baltimore. She worked there until about seven years ago.

“My mother was spiritual and a rock for her grandchildren. She wanted them to live happy, fulfilled lives,” said Robert L. Fink. “She has gained as much as she has given by providing them with memories of the tradition.”

Mrs. Fink was known for her Wednesday night dinners.

“These events were much more for the grandchildren than for me and my brother. She wasn’t a bon vivant, but she provided healthy meals like meatloaf, grilled salmon and a great salad that she initially copied from Chiapparelli’s Restaurant in Little Italy.

She returned to school and earned a bachelor’s degree from Baltimore Hebrew College, studied archeology and took a trip to Israel for an excavation.

An avid theater and operagoer, she was a season ticket holder at the old Morris A. Mechanic Theater and dined at the old Chesapeake Restaurant or Danny’s on Charles Street before performances.

“The restaurants completed the evening for my parents,” said her son Robert.

“My earliest memories are of her organizing a three- or four-day trip to New York to see the latest shows,” said her son Robert. “That’s how she and my father loved theater.”

“My mother was an avid follower of the news,” says her other son, Alan Fink. “She always said that one of the thrills of her life was sitting next to civil rights leader John Lewis at a breakfast at Goucher College when her grandson Joey graduated.”

“My mother and father traveled extensively and especially enjoyed cruises,” says her son Alan. “On one of these, a steamship cruise on the Mississippi, they were asked to give up their cabin for Princess Margaret, who would come aboard for one night.

“My mother wanted to comply and said she was the one who got the royal treatment that night,” he said.

Mrs. Fink was a long-time congregant at the Liberty Jewish Center, which later became the Moses Montefiore Anshe Emunah Congregation in Pikesville, Baltimore County, where she served as sisterhood co-chair.

“She was a stylish lady and was fiercely independent. She gave her opinion, which was usually completely correct,” said Jeff Forman, president of Moses Montefiore. “She was always beautifully dressed and even during Covid she wanted to be at the services. She was of the generation that respected the importance of manners and character.”

Survivors include her sons, Alan J. Fink and Robert L. Fink, both of Baltimore; six grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. Her husband died in 2009.

Graveside services were held Friday at the United Hebrew Cemetery.