
Joseph Charles “Charlie” Merrill, the founder and owner of Merrill Financial Group and a leader in the Arlington, Texas business community passed away on the 13th of December in 2019. He was 89.
Charlie moved to Arlington from Nashville, Tennessee in 1958 with his wife, Sandra, and quickly became active in the community. In the early 1960s, Charlie joined the board of the YMCA. He was instrumental in helping the YMCA achieve financial stability.
He was honored by the Arlington Chamber with induction into the Arlington Business Hall of Fame in 2014. He is in the Arlington YMCA Hall of Fame and was the YMCA’s Man of the Year. His company, Merrill Financial Group, was selected as Arlington’s Small Business of the Year in 2001. Charlie served as Chair of the Arlington Chamber Board of Directors in 1985-86. Always encouraging women in business, Charlie worked behind the scenes in establishing the Women’s Division at the Arlington Chamber.
Charlie was a networker. He frequented Chamber events and developed relationships with many of his fellow business people. A dapper dresser, Charlie was often the best-dressed man in the room. Charlie will be remembered for his accomplishments, but more than that for his genuine friendship. He worked at sincerely making everyone feel like his special friend.
Charlie Merrill had much about which to be proud. But he always seemed most proud of his daughter, Sarah Merrill Young, who while raising a family of her own, successfully assumed the leadership of the family business and became herself, a fixture in the Arlington Business Community. She also currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Chamber.
“Our Chamber and our community have been blessed by his legacy of strong leadership,” said Michael Jacobson, Chamber President & CEO, “Charlie Merrill’s leadership helped shape who we were, who we are and what we aspire to be. We will miss him, but his legacy will live on for generations.”
Joseph Charles Merrill will be missed. He was a part of the Tom Vandergriff generation of business leaders who put Arlington in a position of prominence in Texas and the country.