Nancy Dyer Merryman, a longtime resident of California and a nationally known art dealer, died on. Earlier that day, she had walked her dog and was out to dinner with her husband and friends when she succumbed. She was in her 98th year.  For sixty of those years, she had been married to John Merryman, who is now Professor of Law Emeritus at Stanford University. 

Mrs. Merryman was an outstanding athlete. She grew up in the horse country of Kentucky and as a horsewoman won scores of prizes, throughout Kentucky as well as at Madison Square Garden.  She was the only woman on the Lexington, Kentucky, polo team.  In California, she turned to golf and maintained a very low handicap and won tournaments at both the Stanford Golf Club and Menlo Country Club. Well into her nineties, she continued to play, with equanimity unknown to most golfers. 

During her early years in California she was married to Don Edwards, who later became the U.S. Representative from the San Jose district.  They had three sons. That marriage ended in divorce. Several years later Nancy met John Merryman who at the time was teaching at the University of Santa Clara Law School.  After their marriage, John was summarily fired from the university for “marrying a divorced woman.”  The Santa Clara Law School dean, however, recommended John to the dean of the Stanford Law School and John soon joined the Stanford faculty, eventually becoming the Sweitzer Professor of Law.  Nancy became an integral part of the Stanford Law School Community and gave elegant parties for visiting scholars and lecturers. 

Over the years, Nancy and John spent sabbaticals and leaves in Greece, Rome, Paris, and Hamburg. While John pursued his scholarly work in Comparative Law, Nancy grew more and more deeply interested in art. In 1969 she turned this interest into a business and became a dealer in contemporary art.  She developed contacts all over the country and took yearly trips to such art shows as the Basel Art Fair, the FIAC in Paris, and the Kornfeld Auction in Berne. 

All her life, Nancy had been a lover of animals. She and John were never without a dog, usually a Boston terrier or French bull dog or, in later years, a Basenji, a breed that doesn’t bark.  Twice daily up until the day of her death, Nancy could be seen near her home in Sharon Heights, pulled along by a little dog.

Nancy was always actively involved in her community. She had been a member of the United World Federalists and the Junior League and in later years volunteered in the Just Read program in East Palo Alto and at the Veterans Hospital.  She was an avid promoter of civil rights.

In addition to her husband, Nancy is survived by her three sons. Leonard Edwards is a retired Superior Court judge in the Santa Clara County Judiciary, Samuel Edwards is a principal of a software startup in Redwood City, and Bruce Edwards is a professor at the University of Florida in Gainesville.  Survivors also include her three daughters-in-law, four grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.

Private services will be held.