Merlin Edgar Fisk

Judge Merlin Edgar Fisk, 91, Southbury, formerly of Newtown, died November 12, at Danbury Hospital, after a full and generous life.

Judge Fisk, born March 18, 1921, in Great Falls, Mont., graduated from Montana State University with a degree in chemical engineering. After graduation, he worked for a subsidiary of Standard Oil Company of New Jersey (now Exxon Mobil Corporation) in Aruba, Netherlands Antilles, for 20 years; subsequently, he worked for the Exxon organization in Athens, Greece, Madrid, Spain, and Brussels, Belgium. In 1971, he took early retirement from Exxon and, after a six-month sojourn in France, returned to the United States in early 1972, taking up residence in Newtown. There he was three times elected probate judge for the Newtown District, serving in that capacity from 1979 to 1991. In 2007, he moved to Southbury.

While probate judge, he served on numerous committees of the Connecticut Probate Assembly and as the assembly’s president-judge from 1990 to 1991. In 1987, he received the Connecticut Courts of Probate award as “Judge of the Year.” At various times, he served as a director or trustee of the Cyrenius H. Booth Library, Newtown Meals On Wheels, and the Brass City Ballet. In addition, he was active in the Connecticut chapter of Recording for the Blind, Inc, and served as the chapter’s chairman. He also served as a member of the Newtown Commission on Aging, and as president of the Newtown Scholarship Association and the Horticulture Club of Newtown.

His intellect, warmth, and integrity will be deeply missed by those who survive him: his brother and sister-in-law Donald and Marge Fisk, and his sister Barbara Edwards; his daughters and sons-in-law Dana and William Pitts, and Anne and Philip Bergan; his daughters Catherine Forsyth and Elizabeth Fisk; his grandchildren Edward and David Pitts, James Forsyth, and Andrew and Eleanor Barisser; and his great-grandchildren Walker, Anson, Gemma, Liam, and Jane Pitts, and Phoebe and Anna Bergan. His first wife, Margery Hall Fisk, and his second wife, Helen Ruth Freeman, predeceased him.

A memorial service will take place Saturday, December 29, at 10 am, in Trinity Episcopal Church, Newtown.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Brass City Ballet, 1255 Middlebury Road, Middlebury CT 06762, or the Cyrenius H. Booth Library, 25 Main Street, Newtown CT 06470.

The Newtown Bee      November 23, 2012