Charles E. Merrill Jr.
| Charles E. Merrill Jr. | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born | 1920 (age 96–97) |
| Residence | United States |
| Alma mater | Harvard College |
| Occupation | American educator, author and philanthropist |
| Spouse(s) | Mary K. Merrill |
Charles E. Merrill Jr. (born 1920), is an American educator, author and philanthropist, best known for supporting historically black colleges and founding the Commonwealth School in Boston.
Merrill was the son of Charles E. Merrill, one of the founders of Merrill Lynch & Co., the stock brokerage and investment banking firm. Merrill was the second of two children born to Charles E. Merrill and his first wife, Elizabeth Church Merrill. He is the younger brother of Doris Merrill Magowan (1916–2001), and the half-sibling to the poet James Merrill (1926–1995).
He spent his childhood and adolescence in New York City. He attended Deerfield Academy and graduated from Harvard College. Merrill was the recipient of a Fulbright grant which he used to teach in Austria.
Merrill was conscripted into the military during World War II. He served in the Fifth United States Army in North Africa, Italy, and Germany through the end of the war. One of the stories emanating from this experience was Merrill's involvement in rescuing a teenaged Jewish boy he encountered in Germany named Bernat Rosner. Rosner was orphaned by the Holocaust and was befriended by Merrill. Merrill assisted Rosner to emigrate to the United States. Merrill sponsored Rosner's education and eventually Rosner attended Harvard Law School and became General Counsel of Safeway Stores, Inc., the grocery story chain founded by the senior Charles E. Merrill and run by Merrill's brother-in-law Robert Anderson Magowan. Rosner's life was recounted in a book named Uncommon Friendship: From Opposite Sides of the Holocaust (University of California Press, 2001).
Merrill founded the Commonwealth School in Boston in 1958. Housed in two connected townhouses in Boston's Back Bay at the corner of Commonwealth Avenue and Dartmouth Street, the school was personally funded and staffed by Merrill from its beginnings. He retired as the headmaster of the school in 1981. The school was a reflection of Merrill's principles. His goal was to provide a rigorous classical education to minority students and the less fortunate, heavy on history, English, and writing; Merrill himself taught Bible class to the entire class of ninth graders, not from a religious perspective but from a humanistic one. He also maintained the principles of Yankee frugality, requiring students to participate in the upkeep of the school, from bussing tables and washing dishes at lunch to emptying trash baskets at the end of the day. His generosity was quiet but overflowing; it was not unusual for Merrill to foot the tuition bills, even college tuition, for students who were financially distressed.
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