David Merrifield, professor and editor

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When business minds on both sides of the border went in search of economic trends, they often turned to Western Washington University economist David Merrifield, who closely tracked the rise and decline of the Canadian dollar and how it impacted Canadian and American consumers.

As director of Western's Center for Economic and Business Research since 1985, Mr. Merrifield had gained a following within the business community and the media around the Northwest for his economic analyses and forecasts, particularly when it came to the impact of the Canadian economy on Washington and other border states.

"He was a very honest economist in terms of his forecasts, and he was always forthright in telling people about all his assumptions, including possible risk factors," said Paul Storer, an associate professor of economics at WWU.

Mr. Merrifield, a Bellingham resident and WWU economics professor since 1983, died of cancer Wednesday (Jan. 24). He was 52.

"He was not your image of a typical ivory-tower professor," said Storer, who worked with Mr. Merrifield for about five years. "His classes were designed to be humorous and to keep students interested."

Mr. Merrifield was the founding editor of the Northwest Journal of Business and Economics, an annual publication with a mailing list of several hundred in the Northwestern states and Canada. He also helped organize annual economic conferences in the Northwest.

In 1990, he received WWU's highest recognition for faculty, the Excellence in Teaching Award.

Before joining Western's faculty, he taught at Wichita State University for six years. He was a graduate of Willamette University in Salem, Ore., and held advanced degrees in economics from Claremont Graduate School in California.

Surviving are his wife, Denise, daughter Sandra, 16, and son Michael, 13, of Bellingham; his stepfather, Colin Ackerson, and sister, Rollee Anne Jones, both of Portland; and five stepbrothers and stepsisters.

Memorials may be made to a fund established for his children's education, and directed to the Merrifield Memorial Account at Whatcom Educational Credit Union, 600 E. Holly St., Bellingham, WA. 98225, or to the American Cancer Society. A memorial service was held yesterday on WWU's Bellingham campus.