John Evan Miller; Led Movement to Save Wiltern Theatre

John Evan Miller, 53, theater historian and preservationist who led the movement to save the Wiltern Theatre from demolition. A fourth-generation Californian from Ontario, Miller earned a degree in history from UC Riverside. He worked for the U.S. Treasury Department in its Internal Revenue Service and Customs Service. But he attained his greatest satisfaction through his avocation--old theaters. He wrote the nomination applications for historic status for several classic buildings, including the Wiltern, Shrine Auditorium, Golden Gate Theatre, the Broadway Theatre and Entertainment District, the Westlake Theatre and the Warner Bros. (now Pacific) Hollywood Theatre. He was active in the Theatre Historical Society of America, created the California Society of Theatre Historians, co-founded the Los Angeles Historic Theatre Foundation, was president of the Los Angeles Conservancy and formed the Citizens Committee to Save the Wiltern. On March 23 in Hollywood of cancer.