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 (previously called Charles E. Merrill & Co.).
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[edit] Early years
Charles E. Merrill, the son of physician Dr. Charles Morton and Octavia (Wilson) Merrill, was born in Green Cove Springs, Florida. 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.
[edit] Merrill Lynch
Merrill and his friend, Edmund C. Lynch, created Merrill Lynch in 1915. Merrill made his money by investing. He orchestrated the 1926 merger which created the Safeway food chain, then used Merrill Lynch funds to buy competitors and increase Safeway holdings to more than 3,500 stores across the United States by 1931. Merrill briefly left Merrill Lynch in the 1930s to run Safeway; in time, his son-in-law and grandson would also run the firm. Merrill was also a major investor 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".
All three of Merrill's children were wealthy from unbreakable trusts made early in childhood. At their father's request, each willingly renounced (in exchange for a token $100) any additional inheritance. Thus Merrill's estate became an engine of philanthropy: 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.
Merrill was the father of educator and philanthropist Charles E. Merrill Jr. (b. 1920) (author and founder of the Thomas Jefferson School, Commonwealth School, and former chairman of the board of trustees of Morehouse College); San Francisco philanthropist Doris Merrill Magowan (1914-2001); and poet James Ingram Merrill (1926-1995). Merrill's grandson, Peter A. Magowan, was President and CEO of Safeway Inc. and is currently the managing general partner of the San Francisco Giants.
[edit] Note
Various websites list Charles Merrill's birthplace as Glen Cove Springs [1] [2], Green Cove Springs [3] and Green Grove Springs [4], 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).
