The Charles E. Merrill Trust was established after the death in 1956 of Charles Edward Merrill (AC 1908), founder of Merrill Lynch & Co. Merrill laid out instructions for the Trust in his will, including naming the administrator and five original trustees, and instructing that the Trust's activities be concluded within twenty years. The Trust's money multiplied considerably after Merrill Lynch & Co. went public in 1972, and the Trust received a judge's approval to extend the timeframe by three years.
Over its twenty-three year existence the trustees distributed over $114 million to 5,000 projects, and by the end they were receiving approximately 12,000 funding requests per year. Twenty percent of the Trust's income went to Amherst College, twenty percent to seven other named beneficiaries (schools and hospitals), and the remaining sixty percent was divided equally in three categories: education, religion (ten percent Protestant, five percent each to Catholic and Jewish), and established charitable, scientific, or religious institutions.
At the time it was established, funds for the Charles E. Merrill Trust were taxable because the Trust owned a large amount of Merrill Lynch and Co. Because of this, various parties interested in the Charles E. Merrill Trust lobbied Congress and were instrumental in passing H.R. 8265 (Public Law 85-367) on April 7, 1958. This very limited law gave the Trust's funds tax-exempt status.
There were only five trustees at a given time during the life of the Trust, and the grants reflected the particular interest of those trustees. The original trustees appointed in Charles E. Merrill's will were: Winthrop Smith, Sam Marks, Robert A. Magowan, Charles Cole, and Charles Merrill Jr. Marks was replaced by Doris Magowan in 1960, Smith was replaced in 1961 by Donald Regan, Peter Magowan replaced Cole after Cole's death in 1978, and Mary Merrill replaced Donald Regan as a trustee for the Trust's final meeting. The administrator for the life of the Trust was Dr. David A. Thomas, Dean of the Cornell University School of Business and Public Administration.
From the guide to the Charles E. Merrill Trust Collection, 1954-2013, 1959-1980, (Amherst College Archives and Special Collections)
