JONATHAN A. MERRILL, 78, of Asheville, NC, died on January 5, 2024 in Asheville, NC. Prior to moving to Asheville in 2006 from Allentown, PA, he retired from AT&T in Basking Ridge, NJ as a Finance Manager in 2001 after 18 years.

Born May 25, 1945, in Washington, D.C., he grew up in South Orange, NJ. He was graduated from Deerfield Academy in Deerfield, MA in 1963 and from Westminster Choir College of Rider University in Princeton, NJ in 1969. He taught music and chorus in elementary through high schools in New Jersey and Vermont for about nine years. He served in the U.S. Army, both active and Reserve, for ten years, including duty at Headquarters U.S. Army Europe in Heidelberg, Germany, where he was awarded the Army Achievement Medal and the Division "Outstanding Soldier of the Quarter" citation in 1980.

In his spare time he was co-president of the international Annie People Fan Club for the Broadway show and movie of "Annie" for 15 years up to 1998 and was listed in Marquis' "Who's Who In America" for that affiliation. He was featured in the 2006 award-winning film documentary "Life After Tomorrow?"

He was the son of Deane W. Merrill and Harriet R. Merrill, formerly of South Orange, NJ. His grandparents were Charles A. Merrill and Eleanore G. Merrill of East Orange, NJ, and Reginald P. Ray and Emma T. Ray of White Plains, NY and South Salem, NY.

He is survived by 4 nieces and nephews, 8 grandnieces and grandnephews, and 1 great-grandniece.

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