Timothy E. Miller, Founder of AIDS Walk O.C., Dies at 45

Timothy E. Miller, a founder of AIDS Walk Orange County and former executive director of the service organization AIDS Response Program, died Wednesday of AIDS-related causes. He was 45.

“Tim really dedicated his energies for quite a few years to advocating for the rights of people who were HIV-affected and who were HIV-infected,” said Jack Herzberg, program director for the Garden Grove-based AIDS Response Program. “His forthright leadership style in ending the epidemic will be sorely missed.”

In 1980, Miller moved from New Jersey to Laguna Beach, where he began working with the Police Department as a community services officer, a position he held until 1986.

Miller began work at the AIDS Response Program later that year, starting as a program specialist. He became executive director in 1989, a position he held until September, 1993, when illness forced his departure.

In addition to his work with the service organization, which is a program of the Gay and Lesbian Community Service Center of Orange County, Miller was a founder of Laguna Outreach and the Elections Committee of the County of Orange in 1982, and of AIDS Walk Orange County in 1986.

Miller is survived by his parents, Erwin and Elinor Miller of Virginia, and three brothers and sisters.

Funeral arrangements are pending. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made in Miller’s memory to the AIDS Response Program, 12832 Garden Grove Blvd., Suite B, Garden Grove, Calif. 92843.