Robert James Miller Jr.

A true "Renaissance Man", Bob’s life showed his wide ranging interests: surveyor, forester, biologist, professor, dean, lawyer, Sunday school teacher, vestryman, lay reader, mason, sailor and dog butler. His greatest honor was paid to him by his daughter, Nancy, who said that he was the quintessential “Southern Gentleman.”

Bob graduated from Whiteville High School in 1951, where he lettered in football, was class poet and vice president of his class in 1951. He served as a page in the North Carolina Legislature 1949 session. Prior to college, he worked on a State highway survey crew for over a year. After graduation from NC State in 1956 with a degree in forestry, he worked in land management and wetland research for West Virginia Pulp & Paper Company in northeastern North Carolina. Later relocating to South Carolina he was Chief Forester, supervising timber acquisition, logging, and timber management operations for Tilghman Lumber Company and there became a Registered Land Surveyor. Bob earned the Master of Forestry degree, the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in biology from Yale University. His master's research involved statistics in biological sampling methods and his doctoral dissertation was concerned with the biochemistry of nitrogen. Upon graduation he joined the biology faculty of Radford University in Virginia. At Radford, he served as chairman of the biology department, dean of the school of Natural Sciences, and vice-president for Academic Affairs. While there he was named one of the youngest inductees to Who’s Who in America. A sailor, he was happiest when on or near the ocean, Dr. Miller was delighted to return to North Carolina when he was named Dean of the College at St. Mary's College in Raleigh. In addition to administrative duties at St. Mary's, Dr. Miller taught courses in environmental biology, statistics, and business law. A dynamic lecturer, he was a very popular with his students and colleagues. Upon earning his J.D. degree in 1985, he left academe to practice law as a member of the firm of Patton Boggs & Blow concentrating in the area of construction law litigation. He formed his own firm concentrating in immigration law, arbitration and mediation of construction and environmental disputes. In 1995 he accepted an invitation to lecture on mediation of international commercial disputes at Tomsk State University in Russia. Always interested in construction, Dr. Miller designed four of his family's houses. He and his wife, Trish, together designed the last home on the Intracoastal Waterway at Windy Point in Brunswick County, NC and did much of construction on weekends! In his later years, Bob was devoted to his family including Irish Setter, Rory, and Newfoundland, Serena.

He is survived by his wife, Patricia S. (Trish) Miller; his daughters, Patricia A. Miller and husband Joe Barnes of Raleigh; Susan M. Price and husband Lee, of Raleigh; Nancy M. Childs and husband Edward, and grandchildren, Sarah Kate Childs, John Edward Crockett Childs, and Emily Louise Childs of New Bern; sister Meredith M. Bostic and husband Walter, of Topsail Beach, NC. He was predeceased by both parents; a sister Belinda; and brother, Bruce Miller.

The family will receive friends and family at the Angus Barn, Sunday the 30th 1-3 pm.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Best Friends bestfriends.org; Canine Companions for Independence cci.org; or the Wake County SPCA spcawake.org.

Arrangements under the direction of Brown-Wynne Funeral Home, 300 Saint Mary's St. Raleigh, North Carolina.