Clarence E. Merritt

MERRITT Clarence Eugene Clarence E. Merritt was born on January 13, 1921, in Toledo, Ohio. He attended Cherry Elementary School, Scott High School and graduated Magna Cum Laude from The University of Toledo's College of Engineering with a major in Civil Engineering. While a student at Toledo University, he was a student assistant in the government's Engineering and Science Management Defense Training Program. He also worked part-time at the Arthur Hatch and Porter MacDonal Survey Companies. Clarence was elected to the University of Toledo's Honor Society and the Phi Kappa Phi and Tau Beta Pi Honor Societies. He was also a member of Alpha Sigma Phi Fraternity and the math club, Delta X. He assisted in organizing the University of Toledo's Civil Engineering Society and was elected as its first president. Clarence also was an Ohio Registered Professional Engineer. Upon graduation he took a position with the Pittsburg Des Moines Steel Company in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania. He was a member of the group on the design of supersonic ballistics wind tunnels for the army at Aberdeen Proving Grounds. He returned to Toledo in 1944 as a design engineer for Willys Motors, now Chrysler Jeep. For a short period of time he was a design group leader for Paramount Engineering in Detroit. He returned to Jeep and later became Chief Project Engineer for the Chassis Group. He was promoted to Chief Engineering of Vehicular Engineering. Clarence retired in 1983 as Director of Toledo Jeep Product Engineering. Besides gardening and being a devoted husband and father, Clarence enjoyed building scale model replicas of old sailing ships of the 1500 to 1800's. During his retirement years he built more than two dozen ships and models, most of which are displayed by the Western Great Lakes Historical Society. Clarence is preceded in death by his loving wife, Edythe. He is survived by his children, David Merritt (Sharon), Janis Whitson (Edward) and Cheryl Krajcik (Steve); nine grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. Clarence's family would like to thank the staff at Kingston Residence of Sylvania and the I.C.U. staff at Flower Hospital for their kind and loving care. If you wish to remember Clarence, donations may be made to The University of Toledo Foundation, Attention Engineering General Scholarship Fund. Friends are invited to visit from 2:00-8:00 p.m. on Sunday, August 17, 2008, in the Ansberg-West Funeral Home where funeral services will begin at 11:00 a.m. on Monday. Interment will be in Toledo Memorial Park Cemetery.

Clarence E. Merritt

August 14, 2008