title: The Merchants
author: Pratt, Gerry
description: Gerry Pratt's career took him from newspaper reporter to chairman and chief executive of what was at the time one of Oregon's largest Savings & Loan Associations with more than fifty in-store branches in Oregon and Alaska. During his career with the late Fred G. Meyer, he celebrated almost every Christmas and Birthday with his mentor and friend from 1960 through Meyer's death September 2, 1978. During that period they traveled extensively together through Alaska following the discovery of the Prudhoe Bay Oil fields, to the Orient, Mexico as well trips to Europe and New York exploring possibilities of long-term financing and meetings with analysts. Pratt was apprenticed in real estate under Meyer and served on the board of directors of the Fred Meyer Corp. as well as a director of the Meyer-owned, seven privately held real estate corporations. These experiences, along with his work with Business Week Magazine and extensive coverage of major mergers of retail organizations have led to this fictionalized story of the Merchants