Merkel Landis (1875-1960)

Merkel Landis was born in Carlisle, Pennsylvania to John B. and Barbara Merkel Landis on January 5, 1875. During his youth he lived at 136 North College Street and attended Carlisle High School and the Dickinson Preparatory School. Officially entering the College as a freshmen in 1892, Merkel began four years of study for a bachelor of philosophy degree under Dickinson's modern language curriculum. He was a member of Sigma Chi, Theta Nu Epsilon, the editor of the Microcosm for three years, an Allison Orator for four years, and the short stop for his class baseball team.

Graduating in 1896 at the age of 21 Landis worked as a clerk in the Carlisle Deposit Bank until 1897. He also attended the Dickinson School of Law and was admitted to the Cumberland County Bar on June 5, 1899. He worked at the Merchants Bank in Carlisle starting in 1901. Later the bank was renamed the Carlisle Trust Company and he retained positions there as treasurer and as president from the fall of 1921 until his retirement in 1937. During his years with the bank he developed the first version of the Christmas Savings Fund in 1910.

College Relationship
Alumnus/Alumna Class Year
Trustee - Years of Service
1930-1944; 1944-1960

Ruby R. Vale (1874-1961)

Ruby Vale was born in Carlisle, Pennsylvania on October 19, 1874 the son of of Joseph and Sarah Eyster Vale. His father had been a Civil War cavalry officer. Vale attended the Dickinson Preparatory School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania and entered the College proper with the class of 1896 in 1892. He became a member of Phi Kappa Psi fraternity and was elected as a member of Belles Lettres Society. A particularly active and admired student, he edited both the Dickinsonian and the Microcosm. He was also an outstanding athlete who played three years of varsity football as halfback and quarterback and captained the 1895 team.

Following his undergraduate years, he spent a time as the principal of the Milford (Delaware) Classical School. He then enrolled in the Dickinson School of Law and graduated with top honors for his law degree in 1899. Though remaining a resident of Milford, he began his practice before the Pennsylvania bar and developed into a well known lawyer and legal scholar. He also developed his specialty in corporation and insurance law; his offices were by then in Philadelphia. As a legal scholar, he published widely on Pennsylvania law, his best known work was his ten volume Vale's Pennsylvania Digest.

College Relationship
Alumnus/Alumna Class Year
Trustee - Years of Service
1917-1961