Edwin G. Merrill

Merrill was born on November 21, 1873 at Bangor, Maine where his father and grandfather were bankers. He was a son of Isaac Hobbs Merrill (1846–1901) and Ada Frances ({{nee}} Godfrey) Merrill (1846–1923). Among his surviving siblings were Fullerton Merrill and Ralph Winslow Merrill.{{cite book |title=Harvard Alumni Directory |date=1948 |publisher=Harvard Alumni Association |page=1554 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YiAiAQAAMAAJ&dq=Fullerton+Merrill+and+Ralph+Winslow+Merrill.&pg=PA1554 |access-date=13 December 2024 |language=en}}

His paternal grandparents were Elias Merrill, who served in the U.S. Civil War, and Emma Augusta ({{nee}} Hobbs) Merrill (a daughter of Isaac Hobbs). His maternal grandparents were Edwin Dudley Godfrey and Harriet Sophia ({{nee}} Rice) Godfrey.{{cite book |last1=Dudley |first1=Dean |title=History of the Dudley Family: With Genealogical Tables, Pedigrees, &c. ... |date=1886 |publisher=D. Dudley |page=761 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-fOccUiGs_QC&pg=RA1-PA761 |access-date=13 December 2024 |language=en}}

After attending Philips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire, he attended Harvard University, where he graduated magna cum laude in 1895.{{cite book |title=Harvard Alumni Directory |date=1914 |publisher=Harvard University |page=551 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yktOAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA551 |access-date=13 December 2024 |language=en}}

After a year traveling around Europe, he joined his father's firm, Merrill & Co., in Bangor in 1896. Two years later he moved to New York City, briefly working with Kountze Brothers, before joining Estabrook & Co. with whom he was affiliated until 1901 when he returned to Maine to become managing partner of the family firm.{{cite book |last1=Hamersly |first1=Lewis Randolph |last2=Leonard |first2=John William |last3=Mohr |first3=William Frederick |last4=Knox |first4=Herman Warren |last5=Holmes |first5=Frank R. |title=Who's who in New York City and State |date=1914 |publisher=L.R. Hamersly Company |page=505 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5exHAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA505 |access-date=13 December 2024 |language=en}} In 1903, he organized the Merrill Trust Company and, in 1905, he became president of the Veazie National Bank when it merged with Merrill Trust.

Returning to New York City in 1909, he joined Central Trust Company as a vice president before joining the Union Trust Company as president in 1910. When the two companies merged in 1918, he became vice president and vice chairman of the Central Union Trust Company. In 1920, he became president of the New York Life Insurance and Trust Company. In 1922 when it was consolidated into the Bank of New York, he was made president of the resulting Bank of New York and Trust Company. In 1931, he was elected chairman of the company and was succeeded as president by John C. Traphagen. When it merged with the Fifth Avenue Bank in 1948, he became honorary chairman of the board, serving in that role until his death in 1950.

On January 21, 1902 in Irvington-on-Hudson, New York, Merrill was married to Adelaide Isabel Katte (1876–1959), a daughter of British-born civil engineer Walter Katte and Elizabeth ({{nee}} Britton) Katte. Together, they had a home in New York City and in Bedford Hills, New York, and were the parents of:

• Edwin Katte Merrill (1902–1963), who married Helen Phelps Stokes, the daughter of Isaac Newton Phelps Stokes and Edith Minturn Stokes in 1928.{{cite news |title=MISS STOKES TO BE BRIDE TOMORROW; Her Marriage to Edwin K. Merrill in St. Matthew's Church,BedFord, N.Y. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1928/10/12/archives/miss-stokes-to-be-bride-tomorrow-her-marriage-to-edwin-k-merrill-in.html |access-date=13 December 2024 |work=The New York Times |date=October 12, 1928}} After his death in 1963, she married Donald Fairfax Bush Jr. in 1964.{{Citation| last1 = Zimmerman| first1 = Jean| title = Love, fiercely: a gilded age romance| publisher = Houghton Mifflin Harcourt| place = Boston/New York| year = 2012| page = [https://archive.org/details/lovefiercelygild0000zimm/page/503 503]| isbn = 978-0-15-101447-7| url = https://archive.org/details/lovefiercelygild0000zimm/page/503}}
• Dudley Merrill (1904–1988), who married Katherine Park, a daughter of Charles Francis Park Jr., in 1932.
• Adele Katte Merrill (1909–1983), who married Charlton Francis MacVeagh, a son of Ambassador Charles MacVeagh and brother to Lincoln MacVeagh, in 1929.
• Priscilla Godfrey Merrill (1915–1987), who married Dr. F. Rene Murad in 1936.
• Elizabeth Britton Merrill (1917–1993), who married her cousin, Edwin Britton Katte in 1936.

Merrill died in Manhattan at his home, 943 Lexington Avenue, on January 16, 1950.{{cite news |title=EDWIN G. MERRILL, FINANCIER, WAS 76; Honorary Chairmanof Board of Bank of New York Dies-- Was in Field 56 Years |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1950/01/17/archives/edwin-g-merrill-financier-was-76-honorary-chairmanof-board-of-bank.html |access-date=13 December 2024 |work=The New York Times |date=17 January 1950 |language=en}}

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Category:1873 births

Category:1950 deaths

Category:Phillips Exeter Academy alumni

Category:Harvard University alumni

Merrill