She was the Silver Professor of Anthropology and Faculty Co-Director of the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at the New York University School of Law.
Mary's family had come to Philadelphia from Wales in the late 1800s, and established a successful import-export business in iron and steel.
After their marriage, they moved to San Angelo, Texas, where he trained in signals intelligence in the United States Army Security Agency.
[2] Merry joined the faculty at New York University (NYU) in 2005 after serving as the Marion Butler McLean Professor in the History of Ideas in the Department of Anthropology at Wellesley College.
[5] Her book Human Rights and Gender Violence: Translating International Law into Local Justice received the 2010 J. I. Staley Prize.
[8] In 2019, she was awarded the Franz Boas prize, the highest accolade bestowed by the American Anthropological Association.