Robert Miller

Robert W. Miller (“Bob”) passed away on October 31, 2024 in Richmond, VA succumbing to injuries after a fall just two days after his 106th birthday. Born October 29, 1918, in Chester, SC. Dr. Miller was the third of six sons of Hamilton Henry and Wm. C. Miller. He was educated in the public schools of Chester and later graduated from Erskine College (AB, summa cum laude) in 1939 and the University of North Carolina (PhD) in 1948. Following his graduation from UNC he was employed by Eastman Kodak and retired in 1984 after thirty-five years of service. He served in the US Navy from 1942 until 1946 at the Naval Research Laboratory and retired as a lieutenant. He was married to Doris Baird in 1943, and they observed their seventy-fifth wedding anniversary on May 22, 2018. Doris passed away January 25, 2019 at age 97.

Miller was a charter member of Preston Hills Presbyterian Church, where he served as Clerk of Session, Sunday school teacher, and a member of the choir. He joined the Kingsport Lions Club in 1973 and served as President and District Governor. He was both a Melvin Jones Fellow and a Lindsey-Jennings Fellow. In 2016 he was inducted in the Tennessee Lions Hall of Fame. He was heavily involved in the affairs of Erskine College, serving as President of the Alumni Association, Chairman of the Board of Counselors, and Co-chairman of the Annual Giving Campaign. Erskine honored him with the Alumni Distinguished Service Award in 1977 and inducted him into the Academic Hall of Fame in 2006. He was a member of the American Chemical Society for eighty- one years.

Although he never learned to fly, Miller was very interested in flying and flew in such aircraft as an open cockpit biplane, a Ford Trimotor, a sail plane, an autogiro, a hot air balloon, an amphibian, a helicopter, and at age 84 took a tandem paragliding flight in Switzerland. On his 90th birthday he took a flight in a powered parachute.

He and Doris enjoyed traveling all over the world. Their favorite destination was Switzerland, which they visited twelve times. He was an active hiker and the senior member of the Old Timers Hiking Club. During his hiking days he climbed several significant peaks, including Ayers Rock in Australia, Scafell Pike (England), Ben Nevis (Scotland), and Mt. Whitney, the tallest mountain in the continental U.S. In an effort to earn the “Beyond 6000” hiking badge, he climbed thirty of the designated forty 6000-foot peaks in the Southeastern U.S. He enjoyed choral singing and sang at one time in the Kingsport Symphony Chorus and a barber shop chorus. For more than eighty-one years he sang in various church choirs.

He is survived by his daughter Betty Anne Smith and husband Henry of Florence, SC; son Robin Miller of Richmond, VA and his partner Lynne Turner; son Henry Miller and wife Terry of Vienna, VA, and daughter Nancy Pollard and husband Ed of Corona del Mar, CA. Also surviving are ten grandchildren and fourteen great-grandchildren. Other survivors include sister-in-law Mae Lee Miller of Summerville, SC. He was predeceased by his infant son, John Sloan Miller.

Following cremation his remains will be interred in the family plot at the Old Purity Cemetery in Chester, SC on Sunday, July 27, 2025. A Celebration of Life service will be held at Waverly Road Presbyterian Church November16, 2024 at noon with visitation at 11:00 and a reception following the service in the fellowship hall. 

His family remembers Bob as someone who took pleasures in small wonders and simple things: casting rainbows from a crystal prism, identifying wildflowers and birds, daily walks and many a hike, singing to babies, or in the choir in his beautiful, deep voice, making granola and candied nuts and enjoying mouth-puckering vinegar on his salad. Both the family and Bob were proud of donating his remarkable brain to the Boston University RADCO (Resistance against Alzheimer’s Disease in Centenarians & Offspring) study.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you donate to either Preston Hills Presbyterian Church or The Nature Conservancy.