Jean Merley (6 October 1927 - 17 February 2017[1]) was a French historian and professor at the Université de Saint-Étienne, which he cofounded.
He was born at Saint-Étienne into a local family of gunsmiths and cannon-founders, first evidenced in the mid 15th century.
[2] He taught history at lycées in Roanne, Clermont-Ferrand and finally Le Puy-en-Velay,[3] editing and defending a doctoral thesis in history entitled The Haute-Loire from the end of the Ancien régime to the start of the Third Republic (1776-1886)[4] He was made assistant in history at Lyon University, then seconded to the Collège littéraire universitaire de Saint-Étienne, before becoming maître de conférences at the université de Saint-Étienne from 1970 to 1977, as well as taking part in the latter university's foundation in 1969.
In January 1977 he was made titular professor of modern and contemporary history, a post he held until 1996.
He founded the Centre de recherches historiques and in 1974 was made director of the Centre interdisciplinaire d’études et de recherche sur les structures régionales.