Collector Richard Merkin, my Dear Friend, Has Died

[barrysloate]

Richard Merkin, a famous New York artist and teacher, and one of the most passionate collectors I have ever known, passed away a few days ago. He was 70. Richard was a very dear friend for some twenty years; as such this is a difficult note for me to post. I last spoke with him in July, and he informed me that he was gravely ill. In recent years his health and spirit began to decline, and many people who were very close to him over the years may have lately lost touch with him.

Richard was passionate about everything, and collecting baseball memorabilia was no exception. His speciality was Negro League and Latin material, but he seemed to collect practically everything. He had one of the largest collections of erotica in the world, and even wrote a book on tijuana bibles.

He was also an accomplished painter, exhibiting all over the United States, and taught at the Rhode Island School of Design for over forty years. He lived for most of that time in a wonderful apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, and commuted to Rhode Island every week. When he lost that apartment about five years ago and had to move with his wife up to Croton-On-Hudson, he was never the same. The New York life that he so loved was gone.

For those who knew him, one of the things we all marveled about was that his picture is on the cover of the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. That's Richard in the back row, wearing a derby, next to Edgar Allan Poe. Although he was really not a Beatle fan, I know he took great joy in having his picture on the most famous album cover in the world.

Those who knew Richard loved his larger than life personality, and I adored him too. Although recent years were not good to him, I will always remember the better times, and those nearly daily early morning phone calls that we had for many years. Richard, I will miss you dearly. You're in a better place, my friend.