Attorney, Watergate Figure. After pioneering the field of “white collar law”, he served as counsel to President Nixon for over 20 years, and was responsible for negotiating his pardon. Raised in Minnesota by a family active in Republican politics, he enrolled at the University of Minnesota, but dropped out in his sophomore year to join the Army for WWII. After duty in the South Pacific, he returned to school at George Washington University, from which he obtained his law degree in 1949. Thru the 1950s, he practiced as part of a top Washington, DC, firm; 1959 saw his appointment to a three-member panel tasked with oversight of the Teamsters Union and its president Jimmy Hoffa. Resisted at every turn by Hoffa’s lawyer, the legendary Edward Bennett Williams, Miller proved an able foe; brought into the Justice Department by Attorney General Robert Kennedy, Miller supervised the prosecution of Hoffa thru multiple indictments and trials, and also obtained the conviction of Lyndon Johnson’s aide Bobby Baker on tax charges. The Republican Miller started his own law firm in the mid 1960s, and ran for lieutenant governor of Maryland in 1970, but stayed on good terms with the Democratic Kennedys; he served as a pallbearer for RFK, and represented Ted in the aftermath of Chappaquiddick. After defending some of the Watergate figures, he became attorney for President Nixon in August 1974, just as the drama was playing out; resignation on August 9 left Mr. Nixon out of office, but still itching for a fight. Bluntly telling Nixon that he could never get a fair trial, Miller entered into negotiations between the ex-President, President Ford, and prosecutor Leon Jaworski that resulted in a statement from Nixon that he should have acted more decisively in dealing with Watergate, and in President Ford’s pardon of September 8, 1974. Over the years, Nixon and Miller proved a good match for each other, as both loved a battle; Miller engaged in prolonged legal combat with the National Archives over control of the Watergate Tapes, and successfully defended Mr. Nixon in a 1982 suit by a fired Pentagon employee that reached the Supreme Court and established the precedent that ex-Presidents are immune from civil action for deeds done while in office. Miller was later to defend Reagan aide Michael Deaver against 1987 charges of perjury. Closing his firm in 2001, he spent his retirement years on the Boyds, Maryland, horse farm that he owned with his wife Carey. He died of renal failure. (bio by: Bob Hufford)