Longtime Indy attorney dies

Merrill Moores, who loved the law and mentoring young attorneys, died Jan. 5. Moores is the father of a Marion County juvenile judge and an Indianapolis attorney.

Moores, 83, served in the U.S. Army before pursing a double major at Indiana University. While attending law school, he lived in the school’s basement. He was admitted to the bar in 1953 and spent his legal career in many positions, including clerking for Indiana Supreme Court Justice James A. Emmert. He also served as a deputy prosecutor for Marion County Prosecutor Noble Pearcy. He left the prosecutor’s office to join Stewart Irwin Gilliom Fuller and Meyer, which is now Stewart & Irwin PC in Indianapolis.

Moores later started his own practice and served as a Republican legislator in the Indiana House of Representatives. In his later years of practicing law, he served as the director of the Continuing Legal Education Commission and as a trustee for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court. He also served on the Uniform Law Commission from 1986 until his death. He was a member of the Indianapolis and Indiana State Bar associations.

Moores had four children with his first wife, Marilyn “Perky” Rogers: Marion Superior Judge Marilyn Moores, Candace Moores Marendt, and twins Courtland “Corky” Moores and Merrill “Scooter” Moores, also an Indianapolis attorney. Marilyn died in 1965; he later married Martha Jo Burton Meyers and had two more children: Blair Alan Moores and Paula Kay Moores Harter. Moores had 19 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.

He loved his wife’s cooking, dark chocolate, “Judge Judy” – which he said was how he would get his continuing legal education, and mentoring younger attorneys. A calling will be held from 1 to 3 p.m. Jan. 15 in the parlor of the Meridian Street United Methodist Church, 5500 N. Meridian St., Indianapolis. A memorial service will follow in the church’s sanctuary from 3 to 4 p.m.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Susan G. Komen breast cancer foundation, a cause dear to Moores as both his wife and two of his daughters are survivors. Judge Moores, who is serving in Afghanistan as part of the Indiana National Guard, has returned briefly for her father’s funeral.