BOARD OF DIRECTORS
C. Wendell Corey is the president of the Block Island Maritime Institute, and his ancestors include some of the oldest families on Block Island. After an early career in the furniture business that included managing two retail stores and becoming vice president of the largest furniture chain in Connecticut, Corey owned and operated the Liberty Belle, a 200-passenger, pleasure-and-educational vessel that operated out of New Haven. He was later involved with Schooner, a not-for-profit marine educational organization, and was captain of its ship J.N. Carter and participated in the purchase of Quinnipac, a 110-ft. schooner. Working for the City of Bridgeport, Corey was master of the Catherine Moore at the Bridgeport Regional Aquaculture High School and is director of boating operations and administrator of the Adult Workshop Program.
Susan Black is certified k-8 teacher in Rhode Island and New Hampshire, with a masters degree in education-concentration in Experiential/Adventure Education. She is the former Executive Director/Administrative Assistant/Program Coordinator/Fundraiser for the Block Island Maritime Institute, and the Block Island School Distance Learning Coordinator. She has lived on Block Island for 26 years with her husband of 20 years Capt. William P. Black, MEBA Dist 1, Containership Maersk Nebraska. They have two children; Henry age 19, and Corlies age 16. Additional experience includes Comprehensive Yacht Service-Yacht maintenance and delivery crew-Ocean Reef Club, Key Largo, FL
George M. Taber spent his working career as a journalist. He was a reporter and editor for Time magazine from 1967 to 1988. He reported for Time from New York City, Bonn, Brussels, Paris, Houston and Washington. He was later a senior editor in charge of the business and world sections. In 1988 Taber left Time to start NJBIZ, a weekly business newspaper covering New Jersey. He sold the paper in 2005 and retired to Block Island. In retirement he is writing wine books. His first book, Judgment of Paris, was published in 2005, and will soon be made into a movie. His second book, To Cork or Not To Cork, will be published in the fall of 2007. Taber has been a BIMI board member since 2005.
Edwin T. Merritt spent 29 years as a superintendent of schools in three districts in Connecticut and Pennsylvania. In that capacity he became an expert in facility planning, design and construction, with extensive project involvement in new construction, renovation and maintenance. He also worked extensively on developing educational programs. Merritt did his undergraduate work at Dartmouth and has a doctorate in education from Columbia. He now lives on Block Island, and in 2007 completed the Chapman School of Seamanship program. Merritt has extensive maritime experience on boats ranging in length from 24 ft. to 320 ft.
Don McCluskey is one of the founding board members of the Block Island Maritime Institute in 1998 and remains the organization’s treasurer. After graduating from Yale in 1942, McCluskey served in World War II in the 10th armoured division, which rolled into Germany. Following the war, he remained in Europe for several years working with war refugees for international organizations. He returned to the U.S. in 1950 and went to work as a design engineer. McCluskey obtained a masters degree in engineering from Yale in 1959. That same year he co-founded Unholtz-Dickie, a manufacturer of vibration test equipment. He was the company’s treasurer and design engineer. He retired from the company in 1989. After first coming to Block Island in 1938, aboard Spray, a 24 ft. Sea Scot, McCluskey often returned in the post-war years. He built a summer house there in 1979, and in 1993 moved his residence to the island. McCluskey is also active in many other Block Island organizations such as the Land Trust and the Committee for the Great Salt Pond.
George Mellor After an initial career in aerodynamics, George Mellor turned his scientific interests to atmospheric and oceanic turbulent boundary layers. He was the founding director of the Program in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at Princeton University, which is associated with NOAA's Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory. Mellor's research involves the study of estuarine and oceanic dynamics through the use of numerical ocean models. The Princeton Ocean Model (developed by Mellor and Alan Blumberg) is used by scientists and institutions throughout the world, including the U.S. Navy, NOAA's National Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) and the National Ocean Services. Professor Mellor is the author of about one hundred and fifty journal articles covering turbulent boundary layers, ocean modeling and other topics in fluid dynamics and a textbook on Introductory Oceanography. He is a fellow of the American Meteorological Society and the American Geophysical Union. The Mellor family have had a residence on Block Island since 1980; he and Ginny Mellor have lived on the Island full time since 1998.
Champ Starr
Steve Draper
Tracy Fredericks
