Donald Miller, 97; Pepperdine Trustee Since 1937 Served 20 Years as Board Chairman

Donald V. Miller, who was chairman of the Pepperdine University Board of Trustees for 20 years, died Monday of natural causes at his home in Exeter, Calif. He was 97.

Miller worked for United California Bank and later First Interstate Bank when it was acquired by UCB; he retired in 1971 as vice president. He also was for many years an officer and director of the Tournament of Roses Assn., which presents the annual Rose Parade in Pasadena.

According to Pepperdine, school founder and board Chairman George Pepperdine recruited Miller in 1937 to serve on what was then Pepperdine College’s initial board of trustees. Miller succeeded Pepperdine as chairman, serving from 1956 to 1976, and was a board member until his death.

Pepperdine College became Pepperdine University in 1971.

“He understood the mission of Pepperdine exactly,” Helen Young, widow of M. Norvel Young, the third president of Pepperdine, said of Miller.

“He knew what was needed in a Christian school. He understood that money was not the thing that would make Pepperdine College what it wanted to be.”

A freshman residence hall was named after Miller in 1976. In 1982, the school awarded him an honorary doctor of laws degree.

Miller was born in Los Angeles. He earned his business degree from the University of Washington.

He is survived by two daughters, Donna Krumme of Sun River, Ore., and Marilyn Shaner of Visalia, Calif.; and two grandchildren.