BioDon Merricks is a lifelong resident of Pittsylvania County and the 16th District. He was born and raised in the Mount Hermon community and lived there until recently moving to the Mount Cross community. He is married to the former Patti Cassada and they just recently celebrated their 37th wedding anniversary. They have two children that both graduated from Tunstall High School. Lori works in public relations in Birmingham, Alabama and D. is the director of the Wesley Foundation of Macon, Georgia.Merricks is a honor graduate of Tunstall High School, earned an Associate Degree in Business from Danville Community College and a Bachelor’s Degree in Business from Averett University. In 1991, he received an MBA from Averett and has also completed the School for Bank Administration through the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin. Merricks worked in tobacco fields growing up alongside his twin brother Ron and older brother Jay, where they learned the value of a dollar and a hard day’s work. Later, they worked with their father at Pittsylvania Hardware on Monument Street in Danville. Upon graduating from college, Merricks spent 25 years in banking, starting as a teller at Schoolfield Bank & Trust Company in Danville. He became branch manager and when he left First Virginia Bank-Piedmont, he was executive vice president. Since 1997, Merricks and his wife Patti have owned and operated J. W. Squire Company, Inc., a building specialties company in Danville. Merricks is a former chairman of the Danville Pittsylvania County Chamber of Commerce, having served as the first chairman of the merged chambers helping lead the county and city through their merger. Don Merricks with son D. and grandson Isaiah. A former president of the board of directors of the DARC, he has also served on the Salvation Army Advisory Board where he chaired the capital campaign that raised money to build a new community center. He previously served on the boards of the Mount Hermon Volunteer Fire and Rescue, the Danville Pittsylvania County United Way, the Danville Concert Association and the Educational Foundation Board of Danville Community College. He currently serves on the boards of the Community Foundation of the Dan River Region, the New College Institute in Martinsville, the Southern Virginia Higher Education Center, and is an active member of the Danville Host Lions Club and Mount Hermon Baptist Church. He was recently appointed by the Governor to serve as a Commissioner for the Virginia Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission.
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