Theodore Reed Merrell (Ted) was born in Superior, Wisconsin on June 12, 1923. He attended St. Olaf College until 1943, when he served in the Army during World War II. After the war, he completed a B.A. at St. Olaf in 1948 and an M.A. in Zoology and Fisheries at the University of Michigan in 1949. After serving six years as a fishery research biologist for the Oregon State Fish Commission, he became a Fishery Research Biologist in Juneau, Alaska, for Bureau of Commercial Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service, working at the Auke Bay Laboratory. As Ted managed the laboratory and field studies of effects of oil and clear-cut logging on fish and habitats, he documented the work and places. In addition, he photographed Juneau, his home base, as well as places throughout Alaska.

An outline of Ted’s fieldwork includes: As Chief of Salmon Ecology Investigations from 1958-1971: 1961 proposed Chariot nuclear project site baseline study 1961 proposed Rampart Dam baseline study Trans-Alaska pipeline construction and planning areas measure effects of underground nuclear weapons testing on Amchitka Island Aleutian shoreline debris 1969 DDT fish sample survey when he also observed Hickel Highway damage to North Slope tundra.

During a period from 1969-1974 Ted Merrell represented the Federal Bureau of Commercial Fisheries on Amchitka during underground tests of the nuclear warhead for the proposed Spartan U.S. Anti-Intercontinental Ballistic Missile System. He reviewed research of the Atomic Energy Commission-sponsored ecological studies, monitored the activities of AEC contractors and recommended measures to minimize harmful impacts on the environment. (See Nuclear Weapons Tests and the Environment of Amchitka Island, By Theodore R. Merrell for background information)

Ted married Doreen Gillett in 1946, with whom he had four children: Ted III, Bruce, Susan, and Melinda.