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Charles E. Merrill | |
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| Born | Charles Edward Merrill (1885-10-19)October 19, 1885 |
| Died | October 6, 1956(1956-10-06) (aged 70) Southampton, New York, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Amherst College University of Michigan Law School |
| Occupation | Banker |
| Known for | Founder ofMerrill Lynch |
| Children | Charles E. Merrill Jr. Doris Merrill Magowan James Merrill |
| Relatives | Peter Magowan (grandson) |
Charles Edward Merrill (October 19, 1885 – October 6, 1956)[1] was anAmericanphilanthropist,stockbroker, and co-founder, withEdmund C. Lynch, ofMerrill Lynch (previously called Charles E. Merrill & Co.).
Charles E. Merrill, the son of physician Dr. Charles Morton Merrill and Octavia (Wilson) Merrill,[2] was born inGreen Cove Springs,Florida, where he spent his early childhood. In 1898 the family briefly moved toKnoxville, Tennessee but within the year returned to Florida to settle inJacksonville. After the school had been damaged in theGreat Fire of 1901, his parents decided to send him to the college preparatory academy operated byJohn B. Stetson University (now known asStetson University). Merrill studied there from 1901 until 1903 and then in 1903 for the final year of high school was transferred toWorcester Academy. After two years atAmherst College, Merrill spent time at theUniversity of Michigan Law School from 1906 to 1907; worked at Patchogue-Plymouth Mills from 1907 to 1909; at George H. Burr & Co.,New York City, from 1909 to 1913; then establishedCharles E. Merrill & Co.
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 theSafeway food chain, and Merrill Lynch provided investment banking services to Safeway to finance the acquisition of other chains, growing Safeway to more than 3,500 stores across the United States by 1931.
Merrill anticipated thestock market crash of 1929, and divested many of his holdings before theGreat Depression. Merrill merged his retail brokerage and wire operations withE. A. Pierce and Co., thereby restructuring Merrill Lynch and Co. to focus upon investment banking. Additionally, Merrill was known to have pleaded withPresidentCalvin Coolidge (like Merrill, an Amherst alumnus) to speak out againstspeculation, but Coolidge did not listen to him.[3]
Following the 1930 restructuring, Merrill was able to spend more time focusing upon the further growth of Safeway, where he remained the largest shareholder and de facto CFO; in time, his son-in-law and grandson would also run the firm. Merrill was also a major investor in theS. S. Kresge Corporation, the forerunner ofKmart.
In 1939, immediately preceding the boom caused byWorld War II, Merrill was approached byEdward A. Pierce to merge the struggling brokerage E. A. Pierce & Co. back together with Merrill Lynch. Merrill agreed to do so, but insisted that the combined firm retain the Lynch name. Following a simultaneous acquisition of Philadelphia-based Cassatt & Co., the firm was reopened asMerrill Lynch, E. A. Pierce and Cassatt. Merrill was convinced that the average American who wanted to invest should be able to buy shares in thestock 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.[4] Requiring husbands and wives to attend investment seminars together is a common marketing strategy to keep up sales pressure, as neither spouse will be able to say, "let me check with my wife (or husband) before I decide."[5]
Merrill was a well-knownbon vivant. Married three times, Merrill was nicknamed "Good Time Charlie" by his friends and was described in 1998 byTime magazine as a "short, self-absorbed, prideful, flamboyant fellow" who "made the gossip pages as regularly as the financial pages". Merrill was known for his many extramarital affairs, which he referred to as "recharging my batteries".[6][7]
In 1926, he purchased theJames L. Breese House atSouthampton inSuffolk County, New York, a 30-acre estate also known as "The Orchard".[8] Designed in part byStanford White with original landscaping byFrederick Law Olmsted, it was added to theNational Register of Historic Places in 1980[9] after being divided into 29 luxury condominiums (with its ballroom and first-floor reception areas left intact).[10]
In the 1920s, Merrill also owned a Greenwich Village townhouse at 18 West 11th Street which wasexploded by dynamite on March 6, 1970 by carelessWeather Underground terrorists.
All three of Merrill's children were wealthy from unbreakable trusts made early in childhood.[11] Merrill was the father of educator and philanthropistCharles E. Merrill Jr. (1920–2017), author and founder of theThomas Jefferson School (St. Louis, Missouri),Commonwealth School, and former chairman of the board of trustees ofMorehouse College;San Francisco philanthropist Doris Merrill Magowan (1914–2001); and poetJames Merrill (1926–1995), who created theIngram Merrill Foundation to support writers and the arts. In the early 1950s, Merrill's three children renounced any further inheritance from their father's estate in exchange for $100 "as full quittance";[12] as a result, 95% of Charles Merrill's $25 million estate (he had already donated "The Orchard" to Amherst, which had in turn sold it) would benefit hospitals, churches, and educational causes.
Merrill's grandson,Peter Magowan, was President and CEO ofSafeway Inc. and also the former managing general partner of theSan Francisco Giants.
Merrill's estate funded the Charles E. Merrill Trust, an engine ofphilanthropy, supporting theMerrill Science Center atAmherst College andMerrill College at theUniversity of California, Santa Cruz, built in 1968.[13]
Merrill was inducted into theJunior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 1976.
Merrill played no role in JudgeJohn M. Woolsey's decision admittingUlysses into the United States, as many have assumed. The Charles Merrill who assisted Woolsey was Charles Edmund Merrill Jr., president of the New York textbook publishing house, Charles E. Merrill Company. See Birmingham,The Most Dangerous Book: The Battle for James Joyce's Ulysses (2014).[verification needed]
