In 1947, Walter and Gladys Zimmerman founded the Walter Zimmerman Company working from their home on Murdock Street in Wichita, Kansas. Walter started out representing timers and electrical devices, and gradually grew his business until 1955 when he hired Rich Mercer, his son-in-law, just out of the U.S. Army. Rich worked out of his home until 1967 when he moved into an office building located on Hoel Parkway in Kansas, City, Kansas.

In 1958, Walter and Rich started representing their first lighting companies, keystone and EJS Lighting, followed by Marco & Devine Lighting in 1963 and Revere Electric and H.E. Williams in 1968. Then in 1969 the company incorporated and changed the name to Mercer-Zimmerman, Inc. Walter passed away in 1975 and Rich became president of the company. Subsequently, the headquarters were moved to the Hoel Parkway office.

From there, Rich and his wife Helen grew the company from their Hoel Parkway office and two employees to its current 5,800 square foot office building in Overland Park, Kansas with branch offices in Topeka, Kansas, Wichita, Kansas, and Springfield, Missouri. In 1998, Rich and Helen started a succession plan, selling ownership to Tom Eads and Shon Yust until their retirement in 2004.

President Tom Eads and Vice President Shon Yust continued to grow the company until Tom’s retirement in 2005, when Shon became the sole owner and President of Mercer-Zimmerman.