Leonard Miller, 69; Led Expansion of the Lennar Corp.

Leonard Miller, 69, the chairman and co-founder of home builder Lennar Corp., died Sunday of liver cancer at his home in Miami Beach.

Miller founded F&R; Builders with a $10,000 investment in 1954. By 1961, the company was selling more than 350 homes a year.

In 1972, Miller and a friend, Arnold Rosen, took the Miami-based company public as Lennar.

It now is one of the largest home builders in the nation, with 7,000 employees in 13 states.

Under Miller’s leadership, the company expanded to Arizona, Texas, California, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, Minnesota, Ohio, Colorado, North Carolina and Michigan.

Miller’s son, Stuart, took over as president and chief executive of the company in 1997. Miller remained chairman of the board.

Born in New Bedford, Mass., Miller graduated from Harvard before moving to Miami.

He served on the University of Miami’s board of trustees for 20 years and was its chairman from 1995-1999.