John Merrick Collection

John J. Merrick was born February 10, 1919 in New Haven, Connecticut the son of Irish immigrants. They soon moved to the Bronx in New York City where he grew up and eventually earned his degree in journalism and worked as a reported for the Associated Press. Merrick, like many men of his age at the time, felt the call to serve his country and enlisted in the U.S. Army in Februray 1941. He found himself stationed in Southern California at a tank destroyer school. Merrick attained the rank of Lieutenant and became commanding officer of a tank destroyer company.

Following his service, Merrick decided to stay in Southern California and used his G.I. Bill loan to buy the last available beachfront lot at Latigo Bay in Malibu for $2,300 in 1946. Always interested in comedy, he spent some time writing jokes for Edgar Bergen, a ventriloquist, for $70 a week while also being employed as a trust officer at a bank in Beverly Hills. Merrick then decided to enroll in law school and graduated from the Southwestern School of Law and soon thereafter opended a law practice in Beverly Hills in 1958.

Merrick's degree afforded him the opportunity to run for an open Judicial seat in Malibu/Calabsas in 1964. His campaign was successful and he became the Judge of Malibu/Calabasas when it was only considered a part-time job. He would go on to serve as Judge for 26 years. Merrick presided over tens of thousands of cases and became known as "the law west of Topanga." One of the more notalbe cases he presided over was the Manson Murders. Judge Merrick signed the original search warrant to search Spahn Ranch, the home of the Manson Family. He then presided over the initial hearing of Manson Family member, Susan Atkins who was charged with the murder of musician Gary Hinmann. Judge Merrick's juducial crowning achievement came when he served a brief stint on the California Appellate Court in the 1980s where he wrote several publish legal opinions.

Amidst all of his judicial responsibilities, Merrick found the time to serve the community of Malibu in other ways. He founded a number of Malibu organizations including the Malibu Historical Society, Local Malibu Optimist Chapter, Malibu Art Association, Pepperdine Crest Associates, Heart Association, and the Malibu Township Council. One of his finest achievements was helping the Adamson House attain historic landmark status in order to save it from being turned into a parking lot. His love for his surroundings shone through in the books he wrote about Malibu, the classes on Malibu history he taught at Santa Monica College and Pepperdine University, and the time he spent hiking in the hills of Malibu taking in the scenery he knew all too well.

After retiring in 1986 he spent his remaining years as a "fill-in" judge in communities like Catalina and San Luis Obispo. He also spent his retirement researching and writing about the Chumash, the first residents of Malibu.

John J. Merrick passed away on July 31, 2012.