Bentley Atwood Howe Merrick, D.M.D Obituary

Bentley Atwood Howe Merrick (Ben), beloved father, husband, son, brother, good friend, and dentist, passed away on July 2 in Burlington, VT, right after dealing with a sudden cardiac party. He was 61. Ben was born in Morristown, New Jersey, and lifted in close by Chatham, the oldest of 3 young children of Betty and Ben Merrick. His childhood was crammed with family time in which he realized to enjoy swimming and tennis. Via the Boy Scouts, he produced a lifelong passion for tenting. Moreover, he expended time in his father’s house place of work dental observe wherever his enjoy for dentistry initial began. Ben attended Middlebury School where by he satisfied the like of his lifestyle Susie in 1979 when they had been both of those freshmen. They ended up married in 1984. Ben graduated from Middlebury in 1983 and continued his education at the University of Pennsylvania University of Dental Drugs, adhering to in his father’s footsteps. Just after graduating first in his class from Penn in 1988, he labored in his father’s Chatham, NJ, dental apply for 4 years, an working experience that they both treasured and a single that authorized Ben to realize his enjoy of prosthetic dentistry. He pursued even more schooling in this specialty at New York College Higher education of Dentistry Advanced Training Application in Prosthodontics, graduating in 1993. Ben and Susie moved to Vermont on graduation the place Ben opened his very own prosthodontics observe and was warmly welcomed into the Vermont dental community. Ben’s skills as a prosthodontist and his genuine care for clients swiftly turned recognized, and his South Burlington exercise – Vermont Prosthodontics – grew around the yrs to aid several. Always quite humble, Ben valued his individuals, his staff members, and his Vermont dental group. His really like of training dentistry led him to develop into a Medical Instructor at the College of Vermont Professional medical Heart Typical Dental Apply Residency in 1997. He observed huge meaning in operating with the future era of dentists, which include his daughter Katie, who was part of the 2021-2022 dental residency application. Ben was a lifelong learner and was proud to be a member of numerous expert dental corporations. Without the need of query, Ben was a relatives gentleman, and his best joy in everyday living was getting a father to his daughters Katie and Janie. He was a definitely great father. He released his women at a young age to tenting, hiking, kayaking, biking, and skiing and set up a custom of having every single of them on an yearly father-daughter tenting vacation in his beloved Adirondacks, frequently with a different pal and their father. Ben took great delight in his daughters’ interests and grew to become the quantity one particular supporter of their things to do. He was a father who acknowledged how much he experienced to learn from his daughters. As Janie and Katie grew more mature, it was not unusual to find them in conversation with their father on topics ranging from dentistry to civil legal rights to camping recipes to feminism to cats. Ben cared deeply about these prospects to invest time with his relatives, primarily above takeout from Papa Frank’s. Ben is survived by his wife of 38 years Susie his kids Katie and Janie his mom and dad Betty and Ben Merrick of Essex Junction his siblings Jenny Vecchio (Gerard) of Tolland, CT, and Charles Merrick (Kathleen) of Essex Junction his parents-in-legislation Bud and Judy Rose of Red Lender, NJ his nieces Sabine Vecchio Baldwin (Andy) and Lexy Vecchio many much-loved sisters- and brothers-in-law, nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, and cousins as nicely as his beloved kitty Pepper. The household hopes to invite family members and pals to acquire as a community in the autumn, Ben’s preferred time, to share stories and reminiscences. More information will observe. If you are intrigued in building a tribute to Ben’s memory, our family invites you to look at becoming an organ donor donating to the Adirondack Land Belief (www.adirondacklandtrust.org) or having a stroll in the woods, if you can, and remember Ben.