Martin R. Miller, Former County Planning Leader

Martin Russell Miller, a former Ventura County Planning Commission chairman, has died after a lengthy battle with cancer and heart disease. He was 85.

A longtime Camarillo businessman, Miller served as the commission’s chairman during the late 195Os, according to his wife of 55 years, Patricia Russell Miller.

Owner and operator of the former Camarillo Lumber Co. for more than 20 years, Miller was an avid woodworker and carpenter. In 1970, he sold the business, which is no longer operating.

“Martin was the kind of person that would sell someone a window and then go out to their house to help that person with the installation,” said Patricia Miller, 80. “He did it because he liked helping people but also because he really enjoyed building things.”

Born in Illinois, Miller was raised in Washington state, where he attended public schools and, eventually, the University of Washington. He moved to California in the mid-1920s and married the former Patricia Russell in 1939.

The Millers lived in the Westlake area since the late 1940s.

Miller was also a sportsman who especially liked hunting and sailing.

“He would crew with friends on boats,” his widow said. “He really liked being out on the ocean. He also liked to go hunting occasionally.”

Aside from the lumber business, Miller and his wife raised and showed prize Appaloosa horses and still had several on their Westlake property at the time of his death Tuesday.

“Raising and showing the horses was something that we both enjoyed very much,” Patricia Miller said. “It takes a fair amount of skill and patience, but the fruits of your labor can be very rewarding.”

The couple had no children. The Pierce Brothers Valley Oaks Mortuary is handling arrangements.