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

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

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

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

She later received 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 business, ABC Box Co., on Leadenhall Street in South Baltimore. She worked there until about seven years ago.

“My mother was spiritual and was a rock for her grandchildren. She wanted them to have happy, fulfilled lives,” said Robert L. Fink. “She gained as much as she gave as she provided their memories of tradition.”

Mrs. Fink was known for her Wednesday night dinners.

“These events were way more for the grandchildren than for me and my brother. She was not an epicurean cook but she provided wholesome meals, things like meatloaf, barbecued salmon and a great salad she initially copied from Chiapparelli’s Restaurant in Little Italy.”

She returned to school and earned a bachelor’s degree at Baltimore Hebrew College, studying archaeology and making a trip to Israel for a dig.

An avid theater and opera goer, she was a subscriber to the old Morris A. Mechanic Theatre and ate before performances at the old Chesapeake Restaurant or Danny’s on Charles Street.

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

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

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

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

“Happy to comply, my mother said she was the one who got the royal treatment that night,” he said.

Mrs. Fink was a longtime congregant at Liberty Jewish Center, which later became Moses Montefiore Anshe Emunah Congregation in Pikesville, Baltimore County, where she was a co-president of the sisterhood.

“She was a classy lady and was fiercely independent. She gave her opinions which were usually quite correct,” said Jeff Forman, president of Moses Montefiore. “She was always beautifully dressed and even during Covid she wanted to be at services. She was of the generation who 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 United Hebrew Cemetery.