Richard A. Merrill (May 20, 1937 – October 26, 2017) was an American lawyer, government official, and academic administrator who served as the 7th dean of the

University of Virginia School of Law The University of Virginia School of Law (Virginia Law or UVA Law) is the law school of the University of Virginia, a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson as part of his "academical v ...

and the chief counsel of the

Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respon ...

from 1976 to 1978.

Biography

Merrill was born on May 20, 1937, in

Logan, Utah Logan is a city in Cache County, Utah, United States. The 2020 census recorded the population was 52,778. Logan is the county seat of Cache County and the principal city of the Logan metropolitan area, which includes Cache County and Franklin ...

. His father, Milton Reese Merrill, was a professor of political science and top academic administrator of

Utah State University Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public land-grant research university in Logan, Utah. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. With nearly 20,000 students living on or near campus, USU is Utah's ...

, becoming Vice President and Dean of the School of Commerce. He graduated ''magna cum laude'' and ''phi beta kappa'' from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in 1959 and attended the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

as a

Rhodes Scholar The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world' ...

, earning a B.A. in 1961. He married Elizabeth "Lissa" Merrill in 1961 and moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

to attend

Columbia Law School Columbia Law School (Columbia Law or CLS) is the law school of Columbia University, a private Ivy League university in New York City. Columbia Law is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world and has always ranked i ...

, where he received a LL.B. and became the editor-in-chief of the ''

Columbia Law Review The ''Columbia Law Review'' is a law review edited and published by students at Columbia Law School. The journal publishes scholarly articles, essays, and student notes. It was established in 1901 by Joseph E. Corrigan and John M. Woolsey, who se ...

''. Merrill clerked for Judge

Carl McGowan Carl E. McGowan (May 7, 1911 – December 21, 1987) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Education and career Born in Hymera, Indiana, McGowan received an A.B. degree from ...

on the D.C. Court of Appeals following graduation before joining the law firm

Covington & Burling Covington & Burling LLP is an American multinational law firm. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the firm advises clients on transactional, litigation, regulatory, and public policy matters. In 2021, Vault.com ranked Covington & Burling as th ...

. In 1969, he joined the faculty of the

, becoming associate dean from 1974 to 1975. In 1975, the outgoing chief counsel of the

, Peter Hutt, who had known Merrill from Covington, recommended Merrill as his successor. He took a sabbatical from the law school to serve as chief counsel of the FDA from 1976 to 1978. In 1980, he was selected to be the seventh Dean of the

, a position he held until 1988. Following his deanship, he returned to full-time teaching and research. He returned to

as special counsel consulting on food and drug and other regulatory matters. In 2007, Merrill retired from the law school. He died on Thursday, October 26, 2017, in

Albemarle County, Virginia Albemarle County is a county located in the Piedmont region of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Its county seat is Charlottesville, which is an independent city and enclave entirely surrounded by the county. Albemarle County is part of the Char ...

, from Parkinson's disease.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Merrill, Richard A. 1937 births 2007 deaths Columbia College (New York) alumni People from Logan, Utah Columbia Law School alumni American Rhodes Scholars Food and Drug Administration people University of Virginia School of Law faculty American university and college faculty deans Members of the National Academy of Medicine People associated with Covington & Burling 20th-century American academics