Philip Merrill, a philanthropist and chairman of Capital-Gazette Communications, which publishes two magazines and five community newspapers in Maryland, is presumed drowned after his sailboat was discovered drifting unmanned in the Chesapeake Bay last weekend, reports The New York Times. He was 72.

Mr. Merrill’s philanthropy chiefly supported journalism programs and the environment.

He gave $4-million to the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at the Johns Hopkins University, $10-million to the University of Maryland’s College of Journalism, which was later named for him, and $7.5-million to build the headquarters for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.