U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Washington, DC 20549 FORM 3 INITIAL STATEMENT OF BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP OF SECURITIES 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 ________________________________________________________________________________ 1. Name and Address of Reporting Person* Hardwick Mark K - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (Last) (First) (Middle) 5400 Leslie Drive - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (Street) Muncie IN 47304 - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (City) (State) (Zip) ________________________________________________________________________________ 2. Date of Event Requiring Statement (Month/Day/Year) April 11, 2002 ________________________________________________________________________________ 3. IRS Identification Number of Reporting Person, if an Entity (Voluntary) ###-##-#### ________________________________________________________________________________ 4. Issuer Name and Ticker or Trading Symbol First Merchants Corporation (FRME) ________________________________________________________________________________ 5. Relationship of Reporting Person to Issuer (Check all applicable) [_] Director [_] 10% Owner [x] Officer (give title below) [_] Other (specify below) Vice President and Chief Financial Officer ________________________________________________________________________________ 6. If Amendment, Date of Original (Month/Day/Year) ________________________________________________________________________________ 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 Beneficially Owned ================================================================================ 3. Ownership Form: 2. Amount of Securities Direct (D) or 1. Title of Security Beneficially Owned Indirect (I) 4. Nature of Indirect Beneficial Ownership (Instr. 4) (Instr. 4) (Instr. 5) (Instr. 4) - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Common 302 D - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ==================================================================================================================================== * If the Form is filed by more than one Reporting Person, see Instruction 5(b)(v). Reminder: Report on a separate line for each class of securities beneficially owned directly or indirectly. (Print of Type Responses) (Over)FORM 3 (continued) Table II -- Derivative Securities Beneficially Owned (e.g., puts, calls, warrants, options, convertible securities) ================================================================================ 5. Owner- 3. Title and Amount of Securities ship Underlying Derivative Security Form of 2. Date Exercisable (Instr. 4) Derivative and Expiration Date --------------------------------- 4. Conver- Security: (Month/Day/Year) Amount sion or Direct 6. Nature of ---------------------- or Exercise (D) or Indirect Date Expira- Number Price of Indirect Beneficial 1. Title of Derivative Exer- tion of Derivative (I) Ownership Security (Instr. 4) cisable Date Title Shares Security (Instr. 5) (Instr. 5) - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Employee Stock Option (Right to Buy) 01/29/00 07/28/09 Common 630 21.6667 D - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 07/01/02 06/30/10 Common 525 20.1489 D - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 07/01/03 06/30/11 Common 1,575 21.7524 D - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Deferred Stock Units 02/07/03 02/07/03 66.108 D - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 02/01/04 02/01/04 154.31 D - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ==================================================================================================================================== Explanation of Responses: /s/ Mark K. Hardwick April 15, 2002 - --------------------------------------------- ----------------------- **Signature of Reporting Person Date ** 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. (Print of Type Responses) Page 2