Ariel Melchior Jr., former V.I. Daily News publisher, politician and local businessman, died Saturday at his home on St. Thomas with his family by his side. He was 72.
The news of Melchior’s death spread quickly throughout the territory over the weekend and was met by exclamations of surprise and sadness. Talking to friends and family members close to him and listening to their memories was like taking a trip through the annals of V.I. history, to which many said Melchior was a great contributor.
"He was the last of that generation, you know, of the Melchiors, the Alton Adams Srs. — that generation of great men," longtime V.I. journalist Lee Carle said Sunday. "And while he kind of lived in the shadow of his dad, who was also a larger-than-life figure, he made his own very real and important mark in the community."
Carle recalled a picture printed in the Daily News many years ago, when former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis visited the territory.
"He was walking down the waterfront around the time Jackie Onassis came in on the Christina with Onassis, and the way the picture was taken, it looked like Ariel and Jackie were together," Carle said. "And he had these marvelous columns in the paper that were run again years after he first wrote them. The stuff that he wrote almost had a prophetic quality to it — what was happening then is happening now. He was a great writer."
Fair minded, affable, and personal were some of the other words used to describe Melchior, who many just referred to as "Junior." Many also talked about his various community service contributions, his service on various local boards and his continuous involvement in the Rotary Clubs of the Virgin Islands.
"Junior was always cordial, always nice," said Michael Watson, proprietor of the Petite Pump Room, now located above the Edward Wilmoth Blyden IV Marine Terminal, commonly known as Tortola Wharf. "I’m really saddened."
Watson first got to know Melchior when he took over managing his family’s restaurant, when it was located at the old seaplane ramp, while attending the University of the Virgin Islands.
"I’d known him for some time," Watson said, "but I got to know him well in 1984 when we opened at the seaplane. I knew him earlier on, but I was younger, a different generation."
Watson said he got an education from a group that gathered almost daily at the restaurant.
"Junior joined my father, John Watson, Raymond George, Lincoln Oliver and Wilbur Lewis, and usually Dora and Jose Olivensia. They were the round table in the afternoon," Watson said. "They’d talk nonsense, politics, how to solve all the territory’s problems after a couple of drinks. It was quite an education."
Melchior’s daughter Luanne Melchior also talked about a childhood filled with discussions on V.I. politics.
"I think our lives were shaped by the news and what was happening on St. Thomas," she said. "I remember spending almost every afternoon at the Daily News, and even though I was like 11 years old, my father kept us very involved, especially in terms of understanding how politics shapes your life, both on the social and personal level."
Melchior, who served one term as a senator in the early 1970’s, also taught his children about the importance of elections and voting, she said.
"Back when we were much younger, they did the counting by paper and we would have our own board at home, and would try to keep track of it," Luanne Melchior explained.
Their father would give them experiences as memories, she added, speaking of early morning drives around the island — from Magens Bay to Red Hook, and spending the day at the marina.
She spoke about fishing — "my father was an avid fisher," she said — and remembered her first trip as "some thing special, something different and exciting, something so out of the ordinary for us to do."
But Melchior’s softer side came out with his grandchildren.
"It was the little things he did that showed me how big a person he was," she said, recalling with fondness the time her father spent with her three daughters. "He’d bring me baby water and diapers, not because I asked but because he thought I might need it. It was those things that made so important, such a great person to us."
Funeral services are tentatively planned for Dec 5. at All Saints Cathedral.