Beloved son, brother, uncle and great uncle Harris Arthur Miller passed away on Oct. 17, 2019. Born Dec. 30, 1935, in Los Angeles to Frances Papier Miller and Bernard B. Miller, he and his sister Isabel spent their childhoods in Boyle Heights. In 1946, Harris moved to Malibu with his father where they built their home above Westward Beach. Back then, only one other structure existed on the point, and their “neighbors” were over a mile away.
Harris’s father bought and sold army surplus, and Harris drove a Scout Car, the 1940s equivalent of a Humvee. Harris made money offering his services as an emergency “tow Jeep operator.” Lovers who had gotten their cars stuck in the deep sand of Point Dume would come knocking at all hours, and for a fee Harris would fire up the Scout Car and tow them back to the road. They were happy to pay if he would just get them out!
Harris was an alumnus of Samohi, UC Berkeley and UCSB, where he graduated in 1959. After college, he worked for his father. Soon, though, Harris’s love of surfing and adventurous nature led him to work for PanAm Airlines instead, and to settle in Hawaii for a few years. It was during this time that Harris met many of his friends and loves for life.
Harris was a world traveler. He was an avid surfer, sailor and skier, surfing world-class waves in Hawaii and California, sailing around the Channel Islands and Baja to Mexico, and heli-skiing in the Bugaboos and Cariboos in British Columbia. Harris’s old surfboard is now on display at Denny Moore’s t-shirt shop in Hawaii along with a personal biography of his surfing career.
Harris is survived by his sisters, Isabel Miller, Debbie Viren and Westerly Miller, and younger brother Marlin Miller; his nieces and nephew Moish Lindner, Brett Bloom, Melinda Viren, and Melissa Cohen; and his great nieces and nephew Jade and Sophia Lindner, Jake and Ella Bloom and Nova Viren.
His loved ones will miss his generous spirit and wonderful sense of humor.