Charles E. Merrill
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Charles Edward Merrill, (October 19, 1885 – October 6 1956) was a philanthropist, stockbroker and one of the founders of Merrill, Lynch & Company.
Early years
Charles E. Merrill, the son of physician Dr. Charles Morton and Octavia (Wilson) Merrill, was born in Green Cove Springs, Florida[link]. He prepared at John B. Stetson University from 1901-03 and at Worcester Academy from 1903-04. After two years at Amherst College, Merrill spent time at the University of Michigan Law School from 1906 to 1907; worked at Patchogue-Plymouth Mills from 1907-09; at George H. Burr & Co., New York City, from 1909-13; then established Charles E. Merrill & Co. in 1914, changing the name to Merrill Lynch & Company.
Merrill Lynch
Merrill and his friend, Edmund C. Lynch, created Merrill Lynch in 1915. Merrill made his money by investing. In the 1920s Merrill Lynch became a major investor in Safeway Inc. and S. S. Kresge Corporation, the forerunner of the Kmart Corporation.
Merrill anticipated the Stock market crash of 1929, divesting his money before the Great Depression. He had, in fact, pleaded with President Calvin Coolidge (like Merrill, an Amherst alumnus) to speak out against speculation, but Coolidge did not listen to him.
In 1939, immediately preceding the boom caused by World War II, Merrill decided to take Merrill Lynch nationwide. He was convinced that the average American who wanted to invest should be able to buy shares in the stock market, which was previously a playground for the wealthy. He instructed his employees to hold seminars at which husbands and wives could leave their children with child care providers while the parents learned how they, too, could invest.
Merrill was a well-known philanderer and bon vivant. He was married three times and gained the nickname "Good Time Charlie Merrill".
Charles Merrill is the namesake of the Merrill Science Center at Amherst College and of Merrill College at the University of California, Santa Cruz, built in 1968. He was the father of the philanthropist Doris Merrill Magowan, poet James Ingram Merrill (1926-1995) and of educator, author, and philanthropist Charles E. Merrill, Jr. (b. 1920), founder of Thomas Jefferson School and founder and first headmaster of the Commonwealth School. Merrill's grandson, Peter A. Magowan, is currently the managing general partner of the San Francisco Giants.
Note
Various websites list Charles Merrill's birthplace as Glen Cove Springs [link] [link], Green Cove Springs [link] and Green Grove Springs [link], all in Florida. But only Green Cove Springs, Florida is an actual town. James Merrill mentions Green Cove Springs in his tribute poem, "Two From Florida," published in The Inner Room (1988).
External links
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