E stands for Encouragement, Enthusiasm and Ernie

My Sun column today is about someone many from the newspaper knew — and someone I wish the rest of you could have known: Ernie Imhoff, longtime reporter and editor for the Sunpapers of Baltimore, an assistant managing editor of the bygone Evening Sun and its last managing editor. Ernie, who died the other day, was more than a journalist and our boss; he was a father figure to many, brotherly to some, and to all a mensch. As I mention in the column, in later years, he became very attached to the project to restore and preserve one of the last of the World War II Liberty ships, the S.S. John Brown. These photos are from Ern’s last visit to the ship, on a Saturday in January 2020 down at the Canton docks. He needed a walker to get around by then but still managed to climb the steps to the deck and meet some of the volunteer crew.