Dr. Milton Howard Miller, the longtime chairman of the
department of psychiatry at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center and deputy
medical director for the County of Los Angeles’ Department of
Mental Health, died Wednesday after a long illness in his home in
San Pedro. He was 77.
Miller, who had chaired the psychiatry department since 1978,
was known for his advocacy of the university’s role through
the medical center in upholding equal treatment for poor and
underprivileged patients. A professor emeritus in both psychiatry
and biobehavorial services at UCLA, Miller also served on the World
Health Organization and World Federation of Mental Health in his
long and decorated career in which he received numerous awards and
accolades.
“Dr. Miller had a lifelong vision that mental health
services must be available for public patients and that these
services need to be supported by the academic resources of the
university,” Dr. Peter Whybrow, director of the UCLA
Neuropsychiatric Institute, said in a press release. “He
worked tirelessly to ensure that patients with limited resources
would have access to state-of-the-art treatment, and he urged
clinicians working in such systems take a personal responsibility
in ensuring that this would occur.”
Known as a talented student and musician, Miller graduated from
the Indiana University School of Medicine at the age of 23. It was
there he met his wife, Harriet Bernice Sanders, and the two were
married in 1948.
After serving in the Air Force for two years, Miller went on to
become faculty at the University of Wisconsin, where he became
chairman of the department of psychiatry. He then traveled to Asia
with the World Health Organization and went on to become faculty at
the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.
Miller came to UCLA in 1978 to serve as chairman at the
department of psychiatry at Harbor-UCLA, where he worked to
strengthen ties between the university and the Los Angeles County
Department of Mental Health.
As deputy medical director for the county, he worked to maintain
quality health care for the mentally ill in Los Angeles. He
believed strongly that the university had a responsibility to treat
the poor and was proud to say that he never turned anyone away.
“What stands out is the incredible humanism Dr. Miller
had. … He was really a champion for patients with chronic and
severe mental disorders,” said Dr. Ira Lesser, professor of
psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences and chairman of psychiatry at
Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.
“Almost anybody who came into contact with Dr. Miller
remembers him for years after. (He) had an amazing ability to make
an impact on people,” he said.
Miller is survived by his wife, Harriet, his sons, Bruce and
Jeffrey, his daughter, Marcie, and nine grandchildren.
A memorial fund honoring Dr. Miller has been created at the
Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical
Center, Department of Psychiatry, Box 8, 1000 W. Carson Street,
Torrance, CA 90509.