Jim Miller, a dedicated Ann Arbor Rotarian for 38 years, passed away on February 16. A celebration of his life was held on February 27. Here’s a link to his obituary: https://obits.mlive.com/us/obituaries/annarbor/name/james-miller-obituary?id=54414762
On the following day at our weekly luncheon meeting, John White and Roy More shared some thoughts about their fellow Rotarian. Here is a transcript of their presentations:
John:
By now, you have likely read that Jim Miller grew up in Vassar and became a bank president in Midland before coming to Ann Arbor as the Regional President for Comerica Bank. A few of you were at his service yesterday.
Jim Miller joined our club in 1986 but I didn’t meet him until I became connected with Rotary twenty years ago.
I saw that we lived in same neighborhood and learned that one of my daughters and his son, Brad, were acquaintances at Huron High.
From our early conversations, I found that Jim and I had somewhat parallel lives in that both of us went to undergrad here, participated in ROTC, and earned MBAs before beginning our professional careers. The clincher was that Jim the banker knew my father, also a banker, through an organization of commercial lending officers.
Since then, I had kept up with Jim through Rotary, church, and, in more recent years, golfing at Ann Arbor Golf and Outing. Our parallel lives diverted on the course, however. He always hit the ball straight.
Our last activity together was in October on a visit to the Museum of the Great Lakes in Toledo. We toured the exhibits inside and then went up and down, back and forth, and in and out on an old 600 foot Great Lakes freighter. We topped off the day with lunch at nearby Tony Packo’s.
During all our times together, I found Jim to be both interesting and interested. He was always smiling, cheerful, engaged and a good friend to all; traits that surely made him a successful banker. In his Rotary career, he was a dedicated 38 year member, multiple Paul Harris Fellow, and served as one of our Endowment’s Trustees.
As an example of his civic service outside Rotary, Mary Steffek Blaske recounts pleasant and comforting experiences with Jim when she was new at the Symphony and he had been a board member. After that, he was always fun to sit with at Rotary.
Roy More also has a few words to share about Jim. Jim and Walt Helmreich were Roy’s sponsors in 2004. Roy…
Roy:
Thanks John. There is so much to say about Jim. I cannot cover it all. But let me share some personal experiences.
I first met Jim when we served on the local Boy Scout council’s Investment Committee. Jim was volunteer Council Treasurer at the time and continued for many years. The Scouts recognized Jim with the Silver Beaver award, the highest volunteer award a local council can make.
Jim’s connection to Scouting though goes back to his youth. He was an Eagle Scout out of Vassar MI, that is in the Midland-Bay City area, in the 1950s. He served on Boy Scout summer camp staff at Camp Rotary in Clare. He attended the 1953 National Jamboree in California, the 1955 World Jamboree in Canada, and the 1957 National Jamboree in Valley Forge. For the 1957 jamboree, he was the Senior Patrol Leader, the highest youth position in a troop. Jamboree troops are “provisional troops”. That is they are comprised of Scouts across the entire council. These Scouts chose Jim as their leader.
I described Jim as an “old-school banker”. I sort of feel chagrined to use that term but as Mark Ouimet pointed out to me, that is very much a salute to the type of person and banker Jim was. Jim very much believed in supporting the community that supports the bank. He gave freely of his time and advice. As John just mentioned, Mary shared with some of us her personal experiences of Jim advising her when coming into leadership of Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra. His counsel was sought by many.
Time limits what we can share. The picture up on the screen is quintessential Jim Miller. Lover of life. Lover of family. Lover of community. He will be missed.
