4 1 f4mlc0203.txt FORM 4 U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Washington, DC 20549 FORM 4 STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP Filed pursuant to Section 16(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, Section 17(a) of the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 or Section 30(f) of the Investment Company Act of 1940 [_] Check box if no longer subject to Section 16. Form 4 or Form 5 obligations may continue. See Instruction 1(b). ________________________________________________________________________________ 1. Name and Address of Reporting Person* Cox Michael L -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (Last) (First) (Middle) 905 North Meadow Lane -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (Street) Muncie IN 47304 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (City) (State) (Zip) ________________________________________________________________________________ 2. Issuer Name and Ticker or Trading Symbol First Merchants Corporation - FRME ________________________________________________________________________________ 3. IRS Identification Number of Reporting Person, if an Entity (Voluntary) ###-##-#### ________________________________________________________________________________ 4. Statement for Month/Day/Year 01/30/03 ________________________________________________________________________________ 5. If Amendment, Date of Original (Month/Year) ________________________________________________________________________________ 6. Relationship of Reporting Person to Issuer (Check all applicable) [x] Director [_] 10% Owner [x] Officer (give title below) [_] Other (specify below) President and Chief Executive Officer ________________________________________________________________________________ 7. Individual or Joint/Group Filing (Check applicable line) [x] Form filed by one Reporting Person [_] Form filed by more than one Reporting Person ________________________________________________________________________________ ================================================================================ Table I -- Non-Derivative Securities Acquired, Disposed of, or Beneficially Owned ================================================================================

6. 4. 5. Owner- Securities Acquired (A) or Amount of ship 3. Disposed of (D) Securities Form: 7. Transaction (Instr. 3, 4 and 5) Beneficially Direct Nature of 2. Code ------------------------------- Owned at End (D) or Indirect 1. Transaction (Instr. 8) (A) of Month Indirect Beneficial Title of Security Date ------------ Amount or Price (Instr. 3 (I) Ownership (Instr. 3) (mm/dd/yy) Code V (D) and 4) (Instr.4) (Instr. 4) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Common Stock V 12,~~374~~354 D ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ====================================================================================================================================

* If the Form is filed by more than one Reporting Person, see Instruction 4(b)(v). Reminder: Report on a separate line for each class of securities beneficially owned directly or indirectly. (Print or Type Response) (Over) FORM 4 (continued) Table II -- Derivative Securities Acquired, Disposed of, or Beneficially Owned (e.g., puts, calls, warrants, options, convertible securities) ================================================================================

10. 9. Owner- Number ship of Form 2. Deriv- of Conver- 5. 7. ative Deriv- 11. sion Number of Title and Amount Secur- ative Nature or Derivative 6. of Underlying 8. ities Secur- of Exer- 4. Securities Date Securities Price Bene- ity: In- cise 3. Trans- Acquired (A) Exercisable and (Instr. 3 and 4) of ficially Direct direct Price Trans- action or Disposed Expiration Date ---------------- Deriv- Owned (D) or Bene- 1. of action Code of(D) (Month/Day/Year) Amount ative at End In- ficial Title of Deriv- Date (Instr. (Instr. 3, ---------------- or Secur- of direct Owner- Derivative ative (Month/ 8) 4 and 5) Date Expira- Number ity Month (I) ship Security Secur- Day/ ------ ------------ Exer- tion of (Instr. (Instr. (Instr. (Instr. (Instr. 3) ity Year) Code V (A) (D) cisable Date Title Shares 5) 4) 4) 4) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Employee Stock Option (Right to Buy) 93,538 D ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Deferred Stock Units 1 for 1 01/30/03 A 737.81 01/30/03 01/30/03 Common 737.81 3,~~094~~832.4627 D ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ====================================================================================================================================

/s/ Larry R. Helms February 3, 2003 --------------------------------------------- ----------------------- **Signature of Reporting Person Date Michael L. Cox (Confirming Statement on File) ** Intentional misstatements or omissions of facts constitute Federal Criminal Violations. See 18 U.S.C. 1001 and 15 U.S.C. 78ff(a). Note: File three copies of this Form, one of which must be manually signed. If space provided is insufficient, see Instruction 6 for procedure. Page 2

Filing Compare · COX MICHAEL L