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Perry Merrill (1894-1993)

Perry Merrill did more to shape the physical Vermont that exists today than any other single person. His title changed over 47 years, from state forester to commissioner of forests and parks, but the title didn't mean much anyway.

As the Rutland Herald said in an editorial upon his retirement in 1966: "In those 47 years, Merrill literally invented a government power base that enabled him to serve through 19 governors, and allowed him a dominant voice in the state's development."

Or as former newspaper editor Steve Terry once wrote: "Merrill took over a tiny, unimportant state agency and developed it into one of the most important in the entire government complex."

Merrill has been called the "patron saint of the ski industry" and George Aiken once said, "His was one of the first cries in the wilderness for conservation -- and particularly, for conservation education."

When the federal public works jobs program known as the Civilian Conservation Corps started up in the 1930s, few states were prepared with projects. Merrill had a long list and Vermont received thousands more workers and much more money than originally allocated.