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Stu Miller Passed Away
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Post Stu Miller Passed Away Posted: Fri Sep 17, 2010 8:11 am
Dennis Kane
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Stuart Creighton Miller began his career at JB in the 40's. He served during the Korean War as an officer in the Navy, and saw action in a war that the Navy was not that involved with directly. He was involved in commando operations behind enemy lines.
He was my boatswain in the late 50's at Fld.6, under George Marth who was the Lieutenant. He was Lieutenant at Field One in the early sixties. He was a scholar with a Ph.D in history, and was the chairman of the history department at San Francisco State for many years. He wrote many books.
When at Fld. 6, he lived with his wife in Greenwich Village, and was quite the bohemian. He graduated from Colgate, where he was an excellent swimmer, and attended Brooklyn Tech H.S., where he also swam and played football. He was filled with knowledge and was quite a great conversationalist.
In his day, he was one of the fastest swimmers at the beach. Chuck Barr and Lee Hahn both worked for him at Fld. 1. He passed away today. He will be missed.
Jay Lieberfarb
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Post Re: Stu Miller Passed Away Posted: Fri Sep 17, 2010 2:55 pm
Dennis Kane
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Stuart Creighton Miller passed away today in Sausalito, CA, after a tough fight with cancer. Relying on my faulty memory, I believe he was 83. He graduated from Cornell, where he was on the swim team. He worked the beach from the end of WWII into the early 60's, where he was Lieutenant of Field 1.
Stu retired from the Navy Reserve, having served in WWII and the Korean War. He taught social studies at Garden City High School, and worked the beach while he pursued his doctoral degree at Columbia. For the last 30 years until his retirement, he was a professor of political science and social studies at San Francisco State.
After leaving the beach, he also lectured at Yale in the summer, commuting from his summer cottage in Truro on Cape Cod. He was well-published, and two books in particular brought him scholarly attention: "Benevolent Assimilation", and "The Unwelcome Immigrant".
Stuart had a keen mind, acerbic wit, and was a lively conversationalist, all of which made him great fun on the stand. (You were lucky) if you could get him out of the Columbia library or from hogging the one State-issued surfboard.
He is survived by his wife Valerie, his son Isaac, daughter Sarah, (both by his first marriage to Naomi), and two grandchildren.
He left his body to the University of California Medical School, so there will be no ashes. A memorial tribute will be announced in about two months time.
Ron Colby
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Post Re: Stu Miller Passed Away Posted: Fri Sep 17, 2010 9:34 pm
Dennis Kane
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Thank you for the news regarding Stu Miller. One important correction needs to be made; he attended Colgate University, not Cornell. He was in the class of 1950, where he was a DKE and on the swim team. Ron, you are correct on his age, as he was born in 1926.
Stu was very influential on my acceptance to Colgate, and for that I was always very grateful to him. I first met him at Field 6, circa 1956, where he was the Boatswain and George Marth was the Lieutenant. I agree with the assertion that he was a fun person to sit with on the stand. Not a dull moment.
Thank you again for the news, albeit sad. Keep to the high side.
Bob Kenny, Colgate 1961
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Post Re: Stu Miller Passed Away Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2010 6:14 pm
birdnorton
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from bird norton: stu miller was not only my lieutenant at field #1 but also was my tenth grade social studies at garden city high (reggie jones was my eighth grade soc. stud. teacher/first lieutenant, field #1 and both reggie and stu coached my seventh grade football team--more reggie than stu). if any one put me on the road to being a social studies teacher, it was stu miller. he had a passion for the subject and was quite demanding. i remember taking copious notes in that class---wish i still had the notebook! more importantly, he instilled in me an intellectual curiosity which more than adequately fills up my retirement time today. at the beach, he was some one different but a nice juxtaposition. on the roughest days, he believed in boat drills a la frank keefe with old, heavy wooded boats and open toll pins. he always had quips both humorous and intellectual when he wasn't taking the surfboard from you and "ghosting" in cape cod. he even wasn't beyond faking being a victim testing richie foster and me---richie caught the ruse right away. quite a character and quite a mind!
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