Merrill Joseph Bateman (born June 19, 1936) is an American religious leader who was the 11th president of Brigham Young University (BYU) from 1996 to 2003.

[7] That September, an anonymous professor publicly accused Bateman (in Sunstone) of plagiarizing ideas in his inauguration speech from an article by Gertrude Himmelfarb.

[11] He encouraged students to come to weekly Tuesday devotionals in Sunday dress to make the Marriott Center "a temple.

The school's endowment was significantly increased through the Lighting the Way Campaign that Rex E. Lee started.

[15] In 2002, the Marriott School began giving the Merrill J. Bateman award to BYU students who serve and lead in their communities.

[16] Bateman was an executive with Mars, Incorporated in England and the United States from 1971 to 1975, and for a brief time in 1979 before heading his own consulting and capital management companies in Orem, Utah.

[3] Due to his work in the cocoa business, Bateman made many trips in west Africa, including Ghana.

[17] Later in 1978, shortly after the church changed the policy allowing black men to receive the priesthood, Bateman was sent on a special assignment to Africa by the First Presidency, along with Edwin Q. Cannon, a counselor in the International Mission, to lay the groundwork for the opening of missionary work there.

[3] They visited people who desired to join the church in both Ghana and Nigeria, including Billy Johnson.