The Publisher
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Apr 27, 2010, 8:34 PM
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EIGHT BELLS: Eugene Ambo
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I am sad to report that Gene Ambo passed away on April 10 in Chicago. He had several bouts with pneumonia and his wife of eleven years, Milenka was by his side. I first met Gene when he was a successful photographer in Chicago, and I was an Assistant Account Executive in New York. My boss traveled the country with Gene, while I talked with him by phone. With his basso profundo voice, I was expecting a guy 6'5". Was I surprised when we finally met in person. He was lucky to be 5'4" with lifters in his shoes.
In his forties, Gene decided to give up photography and be a professional sailor. He was a founding member of the definitely non PC IBNA and created the ball. To make it socially correct, the name was changed to the cotillion and is still held in Annapolis. He was also a founder of Eastport Yacht Club in Annapolis and was its first Social Chair. Talk about typecasting.
Gene had many friends and shipmates, and perhaps as many nicknames, ranging from Geno to Mellow Yellow. Of Japanese descent. Gene and his family spent some time in internment camps after the fall of Pearl Harbor. You can imagine how surprised Jack King was when he took Gene to a regatta in Japan to sail with him on Merrythought and serve as his interpreter, only to learn that Geno did not speak a word of Japanese.
When I called Jack to tell him of Gene's passing, he said, "I always told people that if I had to sail through a storm in shark infested waters and could have only one shipmate, it would be Eugene." Gene asked to be cremated and have half his ashes spread over Lake Michigan and the other over the Chesapeake.
I imagine the Ambo stories will flood in after this appears, and they will all be true. Gene's last wish was in his words: "Tell everyone that Ambo croaked and to have a drink for me." Irreverent to the end. The sport has lost one its real characters and great sailors. -- Bill Sandberg
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