Merrill, Charles Edward (1885–1956)

US stockbroker and investment banker. In the 1940s he came out of retirement, returning to Wall Street to create what became the nation's largest brokerage, first known as Merrill, Lynch, Pierce, Fenner and Beane. The firm built a reputation for conservative investment advice to middle-income clients, an approach widely copied during the 1950s. He left some $25 million at his death to establish the charitable Merrill Trust.

The son of a physician, Merrill was born in Green Cove Springs, Florida. He spent two years at Amherst College, played professional baseball briefly, worked in several investment houses, and established his own firm in 1914. A year later he took in a partner, Edward Lynch. Retiring in 1930, he helped found the magazine, Family Circle.