Volunteer Profiles
"It is nice at this time of life to do what the heart wants to do."
- Myron Miller
Meet Myron Miller - by Margaret McKeon
Without Myron Miller, Duke might not have become part of OLLI so soon. After retirement in 1998, Myron arrived in Durham and jumped right into classes at Duke Institute for Learning in Retirement (DILR). By 2003 he volunteered as chair of DILR Strategic Planning. With the plan done in 2004, it was easy to make the application for the Osher grant and the first million came in 2004, followed by a second million in 2005. Myron received OLLI at Duke’s Bill Wright Award in 2006.
Myron's background easily equipped him to contribute to OLLI. Coming from a small town in western PA where only 6 out of a class of 168 went to college, he found his way to Northwestern University, and then to Cornell where he obtained a Master’s in Industrial and Labor Relations.
After Cornell, Myron joined the peacetime army (1956-1958), then moved to the business world. His career encompassed marketing management, product development, and financial and strategic planning positions at Singer, Sunbeam, and Sears. His regions of responsibility were often international so Myron traveled abroad extensively. He caught the travel bug and loved the frequent trips, especially the experiences of new places and cultures. Myron estimates he often traveled around 200,000 miles per year, first class. He lived abroad in Puerto Rico, Venezuela, England and Belgium, and has visited 65 countries so far. Who can say there won't be more?
After Sears World Trade, Myron started his own trading company, Global Trade Services, Ltd which he directed out of Washington, DC, for three years, then moved to Belgium and ran the company from there for several years. During that time Myron did consulting work, investigating the feasibility for small and medium-sized US companies to become established in the European Community as well as working on marketing projects for European companies.
From Belgium, he was attracted to serve on the faculty of Michigan State's Broad Graduate School of Management for eight years, teaching international management; and lastly, he served as Director, Executive Education (non degree courses for executives). In recent years, he has taught course at Elon and Syracuse Universities.
Myron now resides at Briar Creek in Raleigh and is fully engaged in life, including four hiking trips to Europe in recent years. He continues to become involved with social and historic projects that have been important to him in the past or have recently gained his interest. He continues contributing to his church in many ways, including international outreach.
Myron’s interest in genealogy led him to become a member of the Mayflower Society and The Sons of the American Revolution (SAR). He counts among his Mayflower ancestors Miles Standish, John Alden, Priscilla Mullins, and William Mullins.
Myron has written and self-published a book about his great grandfather's experiences in the Civil War, The Soul of a Soldier: True Story of a Mounted Pioneer in the Civil War. His next project in this vein is to document his father's times in Redon, France, during WW1 and Myron's visit to the village to commemorate the wartime there. As he says, he will have to live a long time!
OLLI continues to be a big part of his life. He has read the latest OLLI strategic plan and observes that it is very good, but notes OLLI has a critical space problem. "We need a third place, where OLLI members can meet for conversation,” he states. Other interests are music, genealogy, history and church.
His next goal is to define his 80s. He will be 82 next April and says he has no plans to move into an assisted living facility; he just might take off to Montana instead!
Finally, a quote from Myron seems appropriate:
"It is nice at this time of life to do what the heart wants to do."
Myron's background easily equipped him to contribute to OLLI. Coming from a small town in western PA where only 6 out of a class of 168 went to college, he found his way to Northwestern University, and then to Cornell where he obtained a Master’s in Industrial and Labor Relations.
After Cornell, Myron joined the peacetime army (1956-1958), then moved to the business world. His career encompassed marketing management, product development, and financial and strategic planning positions at Singer, Sunbeam, and Sears. His regions of responsibility were often international so Myron traveled abroad extensively. He caught the travel bug and loved the frequent trips, especially the experiences of new places and cultures. Myron estimates he often traveled around 200,000 miles per year, first class. He lived abroad in Puerto Rico, Venezuela, England and Belgium, and has visited 65 countries so far. Who can say there won't be more?
After Sears World Trade, Myron started his own trading company, Global Trade Services, Ltd which he directed out of Washington, DC, for three years, then moved to Belgium and ran the company from there for several years. During that time Myron did consulting work, investigating the feasibility for small and medium-sized US companies to become established in the European Community as well as working on marketing projects for European companies.
From Belgium, he was attracted to serve on the faculty of Michigan State's Broad Graduate School of Management for eight years, teaching international management; and lastly, he served as Director, Executive Education (non degree courses for executives). In recent years, he has taught course at Elon and Syracuse Universities.
Myron now resides at Briar Creek in Raleigh and is fully engaged in life, including four hiking trips to Europe in recent years. He continues to become involved with social and historic projects that have been important to him in the past or have recently gained his interest. He continues contributing to his church in many ways, including international outreach.
Myron’s interest in genealogy led him to become a member of the Mayflower Society and The Sons of the American Revolution (SAR). He counts among his Mayflower ancestors Miles Standish, John Alden, Priscilla Mullins, and William Mullins.
Myron has written and self-published a book about his great grandfather's experiences in the Civil War, The Soul of a Soldier: True Story of a Mounted Pioneer in the Civil War. His next project in this vein is to document his father's times in Redon, France, during WW1 and Myron's visit to the village to commemorate the wartime there. As he says, he will have to live a long time!
OLLI continues to be a big part of his life. He has read the latest OLLI strategic plan and observes that it is very good, but notes OLLI has a critical space problem. "We need a third place, where OLLI members can meet for conversation,” he states. Other interests are music, genealogy, history and church.
His next goal is to define his 80s. He will be 82 next April and says he has no plans to move into an assisted living facility; he just might take off to Montana instead!
Finally, a quote from Myron seems appropriate:
"It is nice at this time of life to do what the heart wants to do."