Michael Joseph Mrlik

Michael Joseph Mrlik, age 83, died peacefully at home in the company of his four grown children, November 14, 2014, in Charleston, South Carolina. The relatives and friends of Michael Joseph Mrlik are invited to attend his Mass of Christian Burial 10:00 AM Friday, November 21, 2014 at St. Mary of the Annunciation Roman Catholic Church, 89 Hasell Street, Charleston. The Rite of Committal will be at Arlington National Cemetery. The family will receive friends between 6:00 & 8:00 PM Thursday, November 20, at the James A. McAlister Funeral Home, 1620 Savannah Highway, Charleston. Mike was born in Annapolis, Maryland on December 15, 1930, to Mary Lizal Mrlik and Michael Mrlik. He graduated from Annapolis High School and the United States Merchant Marine Academy, Kings Point, New York. After college, he served for five years as a naval officer in Saigon, Vietnam, where he met and married Joan Dow Riker, his wife of 46 years. Upon his discharge, he joined United States Lines, where he spent the majority of his professional career, helping to usher in containerization, which revolutionized the shipping industry. Mike's professional career began overseas where he worked 5 years in Yokohama, Japan, and then 13 years in Manila, Philippines. He was then tapped to head up the company's Charleston operations, moving here in 1976. His U.S. Lines career ended with stints in Bombay, India and Memphis, Tennessee. Mike finished his professional career providing logistical expertise to the U.S. Government in Washington, D.C., and then returned to retire in Charleston with his wife Joan. A renaissance man, Mike was active in many of Charleston's cultural activities, was an avid supporter of local sports teams and loved to travel. He enjoyed his special local friends, the Propeller Club, the Carolina Yacht Club and visits from family and his numerous out-of-town friends. Many remember him seated in a white rocker on his upstairs porch, which he would refer to as his "piazza", in the company of good friends enjoying loud classical music. Predeceased by his wife Joan in 1994, he is survived by his sons, Michael J. Mrlik, II, and his wife Christina Baker Mrlik and their three children of Evergreen, Colorado; Richard R. Mrlik and his wife Suzanne Sande Mrlik and their three sons of San Francisco, California; Robert D. Mrlik and his wife Jeannine Schultz Mrlik and two children of Houston, Texas; and daughter, Lisa Mrlik Brush and her husband Henry Brush and their two daughters of Boston, Massachusetts. He also is survived by his sister, Marion Hopkins of Annapolis, Maryland. In lieu of flowers, the family requests contributions be made in Mike's name to a local charity of one's choice.