Sam Miller (businessman)

Samuel Henry Miller (June 26, 1921 – March 7, 2019) was an American businessman and philanthropist who propelled the growth of Forest City Material Co. from lumber to real-estate which became Forest City Enterprises. He was the first Jew to receive an Archbishop Edward F. Hoban Award for service to the Catholic Church. Miller served in World War II (Pacific theater) as a lieutenant. He served as a member of the board for many companies.

This article is about the businessman. For other uses, see Sam Miller (disambiguation).

Sam Miller
Born
Samuel Henry Miller

(1921-06-26)June 26, 1921
Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.
DiedMarch 7, 2019(2019-03-07) (aged 97)
Beachwood, Ohio, U.S.
Burial placeBet Olam Cemetery, Beachwood, Ohio, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Alma mater
Years active1947–2019
Known forForest City Enterprises
Board member of
Spouse(s)
    Ruth Ratner
    ​
    (
    m. 1946; div. 1982)
      Maria Shanley
      ​
      (
      m. 1983; his death 2019)
      Children4 including Aaron David Miller
      Military career
      Allegiance United States
      Service/branch United States Navy
      Years of service1942–46
      RankLieutenant
      Battles/warsWorld War II
       • Pacific theater
       • Guadalcanal Campaign
       • Naval Battle of Guadalcanal

      Early life

      Miller's father emigrated from Russia to Ellis Island where an Irish immigrant taking names gave him the surname of Miller. His mother emigrated from Poland. The couple married in 1918 and settled in Cleveland.[1] Miller's father was a junk peddler. He was born on June 6, 1921. Miller said he never knew his father's birth-given surname. “I wouldn't be able to pronounce it”, he shrugged in a 2007 interview. “You wouldn't be able to spell it.”[1] He attended Woolridge Elementary growing up. Miller grew up poor and spoke only Russian and Yiddish – the native languages of his parents. He attended Cleveland's Western Reserve University (now Case Western Reserve University) where he studied business and history and graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1941.[1] Miller then went to Harvard University with a full scholarship. He graduated in 1943 with a master's degree in industrial administration, a war-time equivalent of an MBA.[1][2] Miller joined the United States Navy in 1942. During World War II, he was a lieutenant in a Seabee unit in the pacific theater. He was in the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal in which the U.S. Navy participated in the Guadalcanal Campaign (7 August 1942 – 21 February 1943)[3][4] and won.[5][6] Miller finished his tour with the Navy in 1946.[1][2][7]

      Career

      In 1947, Miller joined Forest City Material Co.[1] In the 1940s and 1950s, he was a strong proponent of statehood and helped raise money for the fledgling Israel. Miller believed that had Israel had existed during World War II, 6 million Jews would not have been killed in the holocaust.[1] In the 1950s, he was the man behind Forest City's (now Forest City Enterprises) purchase of thousands of lots in Parma, Ohio, commencing the company's foray into residential real estate. A housing development opened doors to the mixed-use development, such as office and retail projects anchored by Parmatown Mall.[1] Around Christmas in 1963, a scandal arose when he sent $25 and $50 gift certificates to Parma officials and four councilmen when Forest City had numerous interests there. Once Miller found out it was legal, he mastered the eyebrow-raising tactic for future purposes. Miller would also donate generously. He received the Cuyahoga County Veteran of the Year Award in 1974, the Ohio Governor's Award and the Harry S. Truman Award in 1977.[1]

      In 1987, Miller with other Jewish leaders met Pope John Paul II in Miami. In a second meeting in 1995, the Pope rewarded him for his support of Catholic education in Cleveland.[1][8] Bishop Anthony Pilla of the Cleveland Diocese recruited Miller in 1988 to save 15 inner-city Catholic schools from closing.[1] Miller agreed, but he told Pilla he had to do it his way. He asked Robert M. Ginn of Centerior Energy Corp. and Frank Mosier of BP America to help him to raise money. Together, they raised $5 million. For his efforts, Miller was the first Jew to receive an Archbishop Edward F. Hoban Award for service to the Catholic Church.[1][8]

      In 1989, Miller endorsed Michael R. White's mayoral election of Cleveland. White often referred to Miller as his mentor and godfather.[1] In a 2007 interview with The Plain Dealer, he said of his association of White: “only because of my love for the underdog.” Miller helped White to raise money for causes such as the 1993 school board and City Council elections. In 1994, he helped to persuade Clevelanders to pass an operating school levy of $500,000.[1] Miller also was chief fundraiser for White's re-election bids. In 1994, White dedicated Sam Miller Park, formerly Andrews Park, at 750 East 88th St., characterizing the honor as a reward for his confidant's civic contributions.[1] Miller was an early founder of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.[9]

      The American Red Cross gave Miller the American Red Cross National Humanitarian Award in 1993. In 2002, with his second wife, Maria, he would donate $8 million to the Cleveland Clinic. In return, the Cleveland clinic named its emergency services building for the couple.[1] Miller was presented received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Cleveland Diocese in 2015. He was presented the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Cleveland Jewish News on November 20, 2016 at Landerhaven.[7][10] Miller served on many boards, including: Baldwin Wallace University, John Carroll University, Cleveland State University, Notre Dame College, Case Western Reserve University, Harvard Business School, WVIZ, ideastream, American Red Cross, Urban League, United Jewish Appeal, and Jewish National Fund.[2][10][11] In 2013, he was inducted into the Cleveland International Hall of Fame.[12]

      Personal life and death

      After serving in World War II, Miller met his future wife, Ruth Ratner (December 1, 1925 – November 26, 1996), in Wickliffe, Ohio, in 1946 at Leonard Ratner's summer cottage. Ruth was the daughter of Forest City Material Co. co-founder Leonard Ratner and sister of Albert Ratner; they married later that same year. Together, they had four children:[1] Aaron David Miller, Richard Miller, Gabrielle Miller, and Abraham Miller. Miller divorced Ratner in 1983 and she remarried Rabbi Phillip Horowitz (1922 – 2002).[13] He married Maria Shanley in 1983. Shanley converted from Roman Catholicism to Judaism upon marrying Miller. In 1996, his first wife, Ruth, died from cancer. Miller had surgery in 2002 treat bladder cancer. He died on March 7, 2019.[1][2][3][7]

      gollark: Huh, I checked the Minitel L3 protocol docs and it apparently does rednet-style "routing" too.
      gollark: See, that's very not ideal.
      gollark: You don't have an accurate map, though, and you have devices which might randomly be moving around, or ones which drop out unexpectedly, or ones which can't hold much of a routing table due to limited RAM, or ones which are doing evil things.
      gollark: It's not *just* a graph thing. If you had an accurate map of all the network connections it would be a relatively easy thing to route between nodes.
      gollark: I heard that general mesh-network routing was extremely hard, so I ignored it and implemented something really stupid instead.

      See also
      • Jews and Judaism in Greater Cleveland

      References

      Citations
      1. Gomez, Henry J. (March 7, 2019). "Sam Miller, co-chair of Cleveland's Forest City Enterprises and philanthropist, is dead at 97". Cleveland.com. Cleveland: Advance Publications. Retrieved March 7, 2019.
      2. WJW Staff (March 7, 2019). "Cleveland businessman and philanthropist Sam Miller dies at 97". WJW. Cleveland: Tribune Broadcasting. Retrieved March 7, 2019.
      3. JTA Staff (March 7, 2019). "Samuel Miller, philanthropist who championed Catholic-Jewish ties, dies at 97". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. New York City: 70 Faces Media. Retrieved March 13, 2019.
      4. McGee 2002, p. 21.
      5. Frank 1990, pp. 589–597.
      6. Callery 2013, pp. 74–75.
      7. Jacob, Bob (March 7, 2019). "Sam Miller, 'Forest City' Co-Chair Emerius Dies". Cleveland Jewish News. Beachwood, Ohio: Cleveland Jewish Publication Co. Retrieved March 7, 2019.
      8. Karfeld, Marilyn H. (October 13, 1995). "Activist Sam Miller Meets With The Pope". Cleveland Jewish News. Beachwood, Ohio: Cleveland Jewish Publication Co. p. 14. Retrieved March 7, 2019.
      9. Cross, Ian (March 8, 2019). "Beloved Cleveland icon and philanthropist Samuel Miller has died". WEWS-TV. Cleveland: E. W. Scripps Company. Retrieved March 20, 2019.
      10. Brett, Regina (August 4, 2016). "From rags to riches: Regina Brett's 2016 column on Sam Miller". Cleveland Jewish News. Beachwood, Ohio: Cleveland Jewish Publication Co. Retrieved March 7, 2019.
      11. Crain's Cleveland Business Staff. "Samuel H. Miller". Crain's Cleveland Business. Cleveland: Crain Communications. Retrieved March 7, 2019.
      12. "Sam Miller, Cleveland International Hall of Fame, 2013 Class". ClevelandPeople.com. Cleveland: Cleveland International Hall of Fame. Magnum Computers Inc. May 8, 2013. Retrieved March 7, 2019.
      13. Mio, Lou (December 27, 1996). "A Servant Of The City, Dies At 70 `She Never Asked For Anything For Herself'". Cleveland.com. Cleveland: Advance Publications. Encyclopedia of Cleveland History. Retrieved March 15, 2019.

      Sources
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