Obituary of John Philip Merrill

John Merrill passed on peacefully, Monday June 10th at his home in Keizer, Oregon. He was 72 years old. He was born in San Mateo, California and grew up in Lafayette, California. He lived in Walnut Creek for a few years before his father, Philip and his mother Barbara moved the family to a home in the beautiful country setting of Lafayette. John graduated from Acalanes High School where he enjoyed track and field. He frequently visited the Yosemite Valley where he worked summers and as a ski instructor during winter vacations. He attended University of California, Santa Barbara—where he met his first wife Cheryl Singer. They have one son, Patrick Merrill. After graduating with a degree in history from UCSB, John attended the University of California, Los Angeles where he earned a Master’s degree in history and religion. Shortly thereafter, he was accepted into the U.S. Department of Defense Management Intern Program where he was assigned to McClellan Air Force Base in Sacramento. There he enjoyed fishing in the nearby American River and hiking/backpacking at Lake Tahoe where his family owned a cabin. After a short stint at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, John and Cheryl moved to northern Virginia in 1975 where John began work at the Pentagon. His career at the Defense Department spanned the Carter, Reagan, both Bushes, Clinton, and Obama administrations. He served as Director of Policy Research, Office of the Under Secretary (1983); Director of Policy Research, Western Hemisphere (1987); Deputy Director of the DOD, OSD Haiti Task Force (1996); and later, Senior Director for the Latin America division in the Office of the Secretary of Defense (1998). He was a prolific writer of policy and strategy and was highly regarded by his colleagues and seniors. He retired in 2012. In 2008, he married Mariana Ojeda, and in 2013, he and Mariana moved to Keizer to be close to his younger brother, James R. Merrill John was an avid photographer who developed his photographs at home in his own black room. He also enjoyed art and amassed an impressive collection of paintings from his many travels to Haiti, South America, and Thailand. John was preceded in death by his son, John Christian Merrill, parents, Albert Philip Merrill and Barbara Donnell Craig and is survived by his brother James and his older sister Emily Merrill Dossett, of Jackson, Mississippi, his son Philip Patrick Merrill, and wife Mariana.