ROBERT
LEWIS MILLER (1942-2005)
visits
since 050923;
last updated 050923.
My only brother Bobby - Robert
Lewis Miller, AKA Bob and UB (Uncle Bob) - died early Sunday afternoon,
Sept. 11th, of lung cancer. He passed
away in good spirits, with little if any pain, alert to his final day,
and at home with loved ones at his side: Bobby's wife Sandy, son
Michael and daughter-in-law Tammie, his beautiful grandchildren - on a
beautiful day, the way it should be when it must be. All of us are
grateful for the extra quality time he had with us.
Bobby asked that, instead of any memorial service, his friends remember
him as he lived and as - so very recently, on August 13th - he was
able to celebrate his life and his and Sandy's wedding anniversary.
That, said Bobby and Sandy, was the memorial service.
It's comforting to report that they both battled his cancer valiantly
since it was discovered at an advanced stage in March, and to realize
how many great friends rallied to their aid. As a result, Bobby was
able to get a Medivac flight home from Florida, was able to free
himself
from his oxygen tank and again take local trips, and regained a
relatively high quality of life until a sudden downturn in the last few
days.
Bob Miller attended
NYC's prestigious Stuyvesant High School, Queens
College, UC/Berkeley (BS), and Cornell for a MA in Wildlife Biology
(ornithology). His long environmental career was entirely within the
New
York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation where, from its Delmar,
NY research facility, he supervised the Breeding Bird Atlas, the Big
Game Division, introduced the Urban Wildlife program, and much more. He
let his little son Michael bring an albino deer and a bear cub to
Show-And-Tell, he bred peregrine falcons on downtown rooftops in
Albany,
and he gave mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to an over-drugged bear. He
loved Lake George. He worked hard to instill his love of nature, and
the
need to preserve nature, in others.
Bobby, his older brother Richard, and his younger sister Joyce were the
children of Benjamin Hoffman Miller and Diana Kaplan Miller and were
raised in Sunnyside Gardens (http://www.millermicro.com/sunnyside.html)
in New York City's Borough of Queens.
Sadly but fondly, "Farewell, Bobby!"
This
obituary notice appeared in
the Albany Times-Union newspaper
of September 13th, 2005:
(http://www.legacy.com/timesunion-albany/LegacySubPage2.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonID=15083237).
Robert L.
Miller CLARKSVILLE Robert Lewis Miller, 63, September 11,
2005. Robert was a
wildlife biologist for ENCON in Delmar. Husband of Sandra Zeh Miller;
father of Michael Miller and his wife Tammie of Watertown, N.Y.;
grandfather of Mike, Alexis and Delanie; brother of A. Richard Miller
and wife Jill of Natick, Mass. and Joyce S. McKenney and husband Jon of
Richmond, Maine. Funeral private at the convenience of the family.