Professor David M. Miller ’61 H’20

David M. Miller ’61 H’20 served as a member of the initial advisory board of the Thiel Enterprise Institute upon its founding in 1983, subsequently becoming its director in 1984. The success the program achieved as a result of Miller’s vision and leadership led to a $1 million gift from Grace Mary and Henry E. Haller H’97 and a renaming of the institute as the Haller Enterprise Institute in 1996. Since that time, the Haller Enterprise Institute has awarded more than $1 million in scholarships to entrepreneurial-minded students while also providing them access to the Institute’s advisory board which comprises successful entrepreneurs and business professionals. Since its founding, Miller taught and mentored hundreds of student entrepreneurs in his very popular and successful Introduction to Entrepreneurship course. The Institute maintains a collection of more than 400 business plans prepared by students under Miller’s guidance.

Miller’s long-time interest in entrepreneurship is demonstrated by his involvement in local enterprises including Miller’s Furniture of Mercer, Mercer Hydroponics, which at the time was Pennsylvania’s largest hydroponic grower, and Motivation Air, the fixed based operator of the Greenville Airport. Miller retired from Thiel College in 2020 after teaching for 57 years. He passed away in 2022.

Miller also created the business seminar class where each spring students get experience in a formal dinner setting, are introduced to etiquette lessons and connect with the College’s alumni. The seminar was later named the Ruth A. Miller Senior Seminar in honor of his wife, who also served as campus nurse at Thiel College.

Miller was a graduate of Mercer High School, Thiel College, the University of Pittsburgh, and the Pittsburgh Institute of Mortuary Science. He was a licensed funeral director from 1965 until 1993. David and Ruth Miller were both awarded honorary doctorates by Thiel College in 2020. He was appointed the first recipient of the Norman P. Mortensen Endowed Chair of Economics in 1990.