Merrell Williams, Jr.

Merrell Williams Jr. (January 26, 1941 – November 18, 2013) was a whistleblower in the tobacco industry, revealing secret papers of tobacco companies showing that the companies had been lying to the public. It eventually resulted in a multi-billion-dollar settlement with the US states.

Early life Merrill Williams Jr., was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana January 26, 1941, to a family of heavy cigarette smokers. The family later moved to West Texas for most of his childhood, After obtaining his Ph.D., he taught at junior colleges.

He began to recognize that some of the papers contained valuable information exposing tobacco company malfeasance. By Christmas of 1988, he began stealing selected documents that he felt were the most important. In 1990 he sent a cache of the documents to his friend, Nina Selz, who lived in Orlando, Florida.

Between 1990 and 1992, he tried to get tobacco industry opponents interested in the documents. In September 1990, he met up with Richard Daynard, an anti-tobacco crusader, at Nina Selz's Orlando home. Daynard referred Williams to Morton Mintz, a retired investigative reporter from the Washington Post. Mintz reviewed the information, but felt that the legal liability was too high to publish it. The accusations against Williams were later dropped. Later that same month, a large box containing the 4,000 pages of documents obtained by Williams, with no return address other than the name "Mr. Butts", was shipped Federal Express to UCSF Professor Stanton Glantz, who quickly recognized their importance and began publicizing the documents and publishing analyses based upon them.

The ensuing series of revelations led to a 1998 settlement against US tobacco companies for over $206 billion, equivalent to over $ billion in . Scruggs, who had personally received $300 million in the settlement, gave Williams $1.5 million.

Late life Afterwards, he quickly faded from what limited public view there was. He resided in various locations in Florida, Mississippi, and the Virgin Islands.

Awards Joe A. Callaway Award for Civic Courage (1997) Gleitsman Foundation's Citizen Activist Award (1998) Proposed for Congressional Medal of Appreciation of Public Spirit (1994) (Joint Resolution died in committee)