Russell Rowland Miller
Passed away on July 23, 2016, in his eightieth year. He was surrounded in his last days and at the time of his death by close family and friends.
A fourth generation San Franciscan, Russell graduated from St. Ignatius High School, University of San Francisco and received an MBA from Columbia University. He worked briefly in the insurance business, including for his father Joseph H. Miller, followed by three years as a staff member in the U.S. Congress in Washington D.C. He then taught and was Dean at Stuart Hall for Boys.
In 1970 he won a contested nomination for a San Francisco U.S. Congressional seat, but lost the general election to an 18 year incumbent. Russell's papers from this and his other activities in the Democratic party can be found in the Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley.
Thereafter Russell started his own investment banking and fund management business in the US, London and Asia, forming two investment funds with the main offices in Hong Kong and Singapore. He lived in Singapore for seven years.
In Singapore in 2003 he founded a nonprofit to help young entrepreneurs, the Spirit of Enterprise soe.org.sg , and, at the suggestion of the Shanghai Municipal Government, also established Spirit of Enterprise there.
Mi Shu Tai is his Chinese name given by students while he was living in Shanghai for more than five years.
During his business career Russell created the National Insurance Leadership Symposium, a leadership forum for insurance executives, and served as a trustee and executive committee member of the College of Insurance, St. John's University in New York. He was a co-founder of the Insurance Industry Charitable Fund, now a national organization.
With others in the Bay Area he helped found ZenPlay (www.zenplay.org) whose purpose is to raise funds in innovative ways for children's charities.
Russell is author of six books, and served on the boards of directors for multiple civic organizations. He acted as a chief negotiator for Gov. Jerry Brown's 1992 Presidential campaign.
Some of those organizations on which he served as a Board member are: the
San Francisco Asian Art Museum, Self Help for the Elderly a non-profit that serves Chinese senior citizens, St. Ignatius College Preparatory, and the Asia Foundation's Advisory Council. He established the Klitgaard Endowment Fund at the Ricci Center for Chinese Western Scholarship. He has been awarded the Pingat Bakti Masyarakat, the Public Service Medal, by the Republic of Singapore.
He was a lifetime member of the Pacific-Union Club and the Bohemian Club.
While Russell was successful in business and in his charitable work, and the above only partially describes that, he was even more successful in developing strong friendships around the world. Those friends, along with his family, were all present in various ways during his last days on earth.
Russell is survived by many family members and friends who love him, including Ann Miller, Bill Miller, Joanne Graham, Michael Miller, John Blackman and Taylor Lee.
A Mass in celebration of Russell's life will be held on Friday, August 19 at 10 AM at St. Ignatius Church, Fulton and Parker Streets, in San Francisco. Parking at Koret lot, Turk and Parker.
In lieu of flowers please make donations to Mission Dolores Academy, 3371 16th Street, San Francisco.
Published in San Francisco Chronicle from July 30 to Aug. 17, 2016 - See more at: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/sfgate/obituary.a...