Samuel Merritt
Dr. Samuel Merritt (1822–1890) was a San Francisco physician and also the 13th mayor of Oakland, California, from 1867–69. Merritt was originally from Maine and moved to California. He bought land in what is now the city of Oakland in 1852 and moved there in 1863. In 1867, he donated 155 acres (627,000 m) of dammed tidal water from the headwaters of Indian Slough, which became known first as "Merritt's Lake" and later known as Lake Merritt. Lake Merritt is historically significant as the United States' first official wildlife refuge, designated in 1870, and has been listed  as a National Historic Landmark since 1963, and on the National Register of Historic Places since 1966. He left plans for a hospital and nursing school to be built in his name after his death. In 1909, Samuel Merritt University and Merritt Hospital opened. He is buried in Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland.