Robert C. Miller ’47

Robert C. Miller ’47, a scholar, teacher, and administrator at The Thacher School in Ojai for twenty-five years, died June 17, 2013, in Ojai, Calif. He was born in Boston on February 28, 1926, and graduated from Melrose (Mass.) High School. A member of Chi Psi fraternity, he graduated cum laude from Bowdoin in 1946—a year early—with honors in English, a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He went on to earn a master’s degree at Harvard University in 1954 and a diploma from the University of Madrid in 1955. He received a Fulbright grant in 1964 to study at the University of San Marcos and Catholic University in Peru. He also worked and studied in Spain, Cuba, Jordan, and Korea, where he served to first lieutenant in the Marine Corps with the 65th Puerto Rican Regiment during the Korean War. During his tenure at Thacher from 1955 to 1980, he served as chairman of the language department, college counselor, director of administration and studies, assistant headmaster, and soccer coach. In 1974, he was awarded the Morgan Barnes Chair for Outstanding Teaching. His specialty was Spanish language. After retiring from Thacher, he served as a college counselor at Happy Valley School (now Besant Hill School) and as an International Executive Service Corps consultant to the Amman National School in Jordan. He also taught English as a second language as a Laubach Literacy Action tutor and consulted for the Ojai Unified School District as a bilingual aide. He volunteered as a reader for the blind, a “gleaner” for Food Share, and a resource for ESL students. He is survived by daughters Janet Cipriano and Nicole Miller; son Christopher Miller DVM; five grandchildren; and brother Kenneth B. Miller ’54. He was married on June 14, 1958, to Denise Close Miller, who died in 2011.

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