Hugh R. Miller
United States
1943-2023
Obituary:
H. Richard Miller passed away on Friday November 3, 2023 after a short illness. He and his family had lived in the greater Atlanta area for more than 50 years. He was a member of St. Lukes Presbyterian Church in Dunwoody, GA. H. Richard (Dick) Miller was born to Pauline Gossett Miller and Hugh R. Miller on a stormy Saturday afternoon at about 3pm in Springfield, TN. He is survived by his wife, Beverly B. Miller, a son, Jason Richard Miller (Victoria) and a daughter Lori Dianne Miller Tartaglia (Greg), and three grandsons, Hayden and Kade Miller and Liam Tartaglia. He grew up and spent most of his early years in the rural community of Cedar Hill, TN. At the age of 12, the family moved to Bay City, TX, and then after a few months, they moved to New Orleans, LA. In early 1956, they moved back to Cedar Hill. In the Fall, 1956, they moved to Richmond, KY, where he went to Madison Central High School. He also attended Eastern Kentucky State Teachers College in Richmond, where he met and married his wife Beverly Brumfield Miller. He received a B.S. (1965) in physics and math from EKSTC followed by attending the University of Florida where he received an M.S. (1969) and Ph.D. (1970) in physics.
He then took a faculty position at Georgia State University in the Fall, 1970.
He remained on the faculty at GSU until 2012 when he retired as Professor and Chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy. He received numerous awards while at GSU including the Alumni Distinguished Professor Award for the College of Arts and Sciences (1986) and the University Alumni Distinguished Professor Award (1997). He thoroughly enjoyed teaching, both introductory courses and graduate courses. He had numerous graduate students that completed their graduate degrees under his direction and he took great satisfaction there success. He took two visiting appointments during the time a GSU; one to Caltech (1977) to collaborate with Maarten Schmidt, and a two-year appointment at NASA/HQ where he served as a Visiting Senior Scientist in the Astrophysics Division. While at NASA/HQ, he served as Senior Mission Scientist for two space shuttle missions (ORFEUS I and II) and as the Deputy Senior Mission Scientist for the First Hubble Servicing Mission whose mission was the repair of the Hubble Space Telescope. However, his greatest love was his wife Beverly and his family of whom he was so very proud.
Reference:
https://www.wagesfuneralhome.com/obituaries/H-Miller-6/#!/Obituary