Bruce Carlin, a convivial retired Baltimore City police officer who became a confidant of Gov. William Donald Schaefer and other leaders, died last week from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head at his home in Bel Air.
Carlin spent years on the security detail when Schaefer was Baltimore mayor. He joined Schaefer's administration when he was elected governor, and later became a member of Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s inner circle. "He is one of the great characters of Maryland politics," Ehrlich said yesterday.
The suicide of 61-year-old Carlin shocked friends and associates from Annapolis to Harford County. Sheriff's deputies found Carlin dead in his home on the 1200 block of South Tollgate road in Bel Air on Thursday, after two concerned friends had stopped by to check on him and called authorities. They heard a radio playing, but no one answered the door.
Ehrlich called Carlin "a member of our political family," and plans to deliver a eulogy at his funeral Wednesday. "He was one of those guys who would get things done. And because he was so trusted, he had a lot of friends on both sides of the aisle," Ehrlich said. "Anybody in any position of public prominence needs a Bruce Carlin."
Carlin's stepdaughter, Michelle Beam, said she believed Carlin was one of 34 employees to be laid off by Harford County, where he worked in the risk management office, and that he was distraught over a romantic relationship that had ended. "I'm sure those factors came to play in the situation, but I don't think they were the sole reasons," she said.
Harford County officials declined to comment on Carlin's employment status. Employees were notified that they were losing their jobs Thursday and Friday as part of the largest personnel layoff in county history. Carlin worked as a special assistant to County Executive David R. Craig and moved this year to his current position tracking inventory.
While still awaiting an autopsy, the Harford sheriff's department said several factors pointed to a suicide caused by a single handgun shot, spokeswoman Monica A. Worrell said, including a will and power of attorney stacked neatly on a nearby desk.
After growing up in Kingsville and graduating from Perry Hall High School, Carlin joined the police force in 1969 and rose to the rank of detective. He was married to Marilyn E. Carlin for 15 years until their divorce, and regarded her four children as his own, she said.
