Charles Edward Merrill Jr. (August 17, 1920[1] – November 29, 2017) was an American educator, author, and philanthropist, best known for supporting historically black colleges and founding the Commonwealth School in Boston.

One of the stories emanating from this experience was Merrill's involvement in rescuing a teenaged Jewish boy he encountered in Germany named Bernat Rosner.

Rosner's life was recounted in a book named Uncommon Friendship: From Opposite Sides of the Holocaust (University of California Press, 2001).

Housed in two connected townhouses in Boston's Back Bay at the corner of Commonwealth Avenue and Dartmouth Street, the school was personally funded and staffed by Merrill from its beginnings.

He also maintained the principles of Yankee frugality, requiring students to participate in the upkeep of the school, from bussing tables and washing dishes at lunch to emptying trash baskets at the end of the day.

(His 1957 novel The Seraglio, widely read as a portrait of Charles E. Merrill's womanizing ways, was dedicated to the poet's ten nephews and nieces.)

[5] Merrill wrote an account of his experiences of founding and leading Commonwealth School for 23 years in a book called The Walled Garden (Rowan Tree Press 1982).

He helped start the Foundation for Educational Support (Fondacija za podrsku obrazovanju) in Lukavac, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

At the time of his death, he resided in Beacon Hill, Boston, Massachusetts, on a farm in Hancock, New Hampshire, and in Nowy Sącz, Poland.