Newspaper Photographer Jack D. Miller Dies

Veteran newspaper photographer Jack D. Miller died of cancer Friday at Placentia-Linda Community Hospital. He was 64.

Miller, a Santa Ana resident, worked for eight California newspapers, including the Orange County Register, where he joined the staff as a photographer in 1968.

In recent years he managed the Register’s photo processing laboratory. He also worked for the Los Angeles Times, Garden Grove News, Long Beach Press-Telegram and Bellflower Herald Enterprise.

Born Jan. 24, 1926, in Charleroi, Pa., Miller joined the Army Air Corps in 1941 and flew World War II bombing missions over Germany as a tail gunner in B-17 bombers.

“I really admired him,” said Leonard Ortiz, a Register photographer who worked with Miller for three years. “I did my internship here, and he was really patient with me. Anything you needed, he would get it.”

Patrick Tehan, a Register photographer for eight years, agreed.

“Jack was much loved by everyone on the staff,” he said. “He could get you the things you needed to do your job. If you were down, he would occasionally bring in food, like a chocolate cake or a honey-baked ham, to cheer you up.

“He never asked for money or anything. He just made it available to the whole staff.”

Miller is survived by his wife, Dolores; a daughter, Kimberly J. Miller-Hawthorne, and a son, Jack C. Miller, both of Corona; and a granddaughter.

Another son and daughter, Michael Miller and Marla Miller, preceded him in death.

Visitation will be from 5 to 9 p.m. Monday at Brown Colonial Mortuary in Santa Ana.

Funeral services will be at 2 p.m. Tuesday at Trinity Lutheran Church in Santa Ana.