[1] Rob Mermin ran off to join the circus in 1969.
His formal training includes mime with masters Marcel Marceau and Etienne Decroux, and a degree in Drama and Literature from Lake Forest College in 1971.
He is former Dean of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College, and President of Blackfriar’s Summer Theater.
In 1987 Mermin founded Circus Smirkus in Greensboro, Vermont.
[4] As of 2016[update], Mermin resides in Montpelier, Vermont.