Lasting Memories

George Henry Miller
Sept. 11, 1938-Nov. 15, 2022
Menlo Park, CA

George Miller died peacefully in his sleep at his Menlo Park home on Nov. 15, where he resided for nearly 25 years with his wife, Lilo Miller, until her death in 2018.

You could reliably find George at the Sunday Farmer’s Market, cycling with the Senior Spokes, researching the ancestry of his Pennsylvania Dutch family and helping friends with their own research, birding, and volunteering weekly as a member of the Dirty Knees Brigade at Elizabeth Gamble Garden.

George loved jazz music and attended many hundreds of concerts going back to the 1950s. He was a longtime member of the Stanford Jazz Workshop, the Kuumbwa Jazz Center, and the Bach Dynamite and Dancing Society. He was an avid Stanford sports fan and attended many games and tailgates over the years. George was an amazing cook and enjoyed sharing good food and wine with family and friends. In the summers, he loved going to the Jersey Shore.

Before retiring to care for his wife, George had a long pharmaceutical research career dedicated to a better understanding of the mechanisms by which bacterial and fungal infections become resistant to available therapeutics, and to the discovery of novel anti-infectives to overcome them. He was a lifelong member of the American Society for Microbiology and was regarded as a giant in the field of antimicrobial research.

He worked at Schering-Plough Research Institute (now Merck) for 25 years, and then in California for various biotech companies, including serving as Chief Scientific Officer at Microcide and Blanca Pharmaceuticals, and Director of Microbiology at Achaogen. He had a particular interest in antibiotics produced by microbes, and contributed to the discovery of numerous new aminoglycosides, tetracyclines, and beta-lactams.

George was born in Hamburg, Pennsylvania, a town his family helped found in the early 1700s. He received his Bachelor’s and Master’s in Pharmacy degree at the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and later his Ph.D. in Pharmacy from the University of Florida.

He met his wife Lilo at the University of Florida where they were both graduate students. They were married for 53 years.

His endless curiosity about the world, generous and gentle nature, and dedication and care for those around him will be missed. He is remembered lovingly by close family, including his daughters Claudia and Michele, sons-in-law Brian and Chris, grandchildren, Kayla, Jack, Marcus, and Theo, as well as niece Silvia Migliorini, and nephews Bill Fisher, Carlos and Sergio Migliorini.