Code is president of Code & Associates, a sports management agency, as well as the owner and chief executive officer of Precision Tool Manufacturing, a small maker of machine parts. Locally, he serves on many community boards including the Phillis Wheatley Association, the Urban League of the Upstate and the United Way.

Along the way Code accomplished many "firsts." He is the first African American to chair the Greenville County United Way board of directors, his is the first African American Municipal Court judge and he's the first African American to become chairman of the Greater Greenville Chamber of Commerce. Code isn't just a Black leader, he is a community leader. Code is one of this county's needed visionaries, who happens to be Black and unbound by other people's perceptions of what roles African Americans can and should play. Though Code graduated from historically black North Carolina A&T University, he has been a member of the board of trustees of the College of Charleston.

Code's leadership knows no bounds, whether it's his service on the board of directors for BB&T Bank or his chairmanship of Greenville's University Center. WJMZ salutes Merl Code, a judge, businessman and community leader who has set the bar high for African American leadership in Greenville.