Michael E. Miller, 69, was a retired senior executive with Employers Reinsurance Corp. and a director of the Chicago District Golf Association.
Mr. Miller died Sunday, Dec. 11, in his South Barrington home.
He had a large family and enjoyed spending time with his grandchildren, often taking them to movies and attending their school events, said his son, Stephen.
Mr. Miller was born in Omaha. He graduated from Creighton Prep High School in Omaha in 1954, Creighton University in 1958 and Creighton University School of Law in 1962.
He met his wife, Billie, in a class at Creighton, and they were married in 1957.
Mr. Miller worked on the legal side of the insurance business for a few years in Omaha before taking a job in 1968 at Employers Reinsurance in Kansas City, Mo. In 1973 he was transferred to the company’s Chicago office and moved to South Barrington.
After 30 years with Employers Reinsurance, he was the senior executive running the Chicago branch when he retired in 1998.
After his retirement, he applied the practical skills he learned during his insurance and legal career to his hobbies. He enjoyed playing cards, particularly poker, and handicapping horse races. “He loved the analysis and working out how the race would be run,” his son said.
He also was an avid golfer.
“He would use that legal mind and apply the mechanics of the golf when he was playing,” his son said.
For the past seven years, he had been a director of the Chicago District Golf Association and a member of the board of directors at Turnberry Country Club in Lakewood. He also officiated at golf tournaments throughout Illinois.
In his later years, he became a voracious reader. “He just chewed through books,” his son said.
“He was a man of great integrity. His wife, his children and his grandchildren were always most important to him.”
Other survivors include his wife; two sons, Daniel and Bryan; four daughters, Ann Miller-Lulik, Laurie Gray, Elizabeth Smith and Meg Mitchell; his father, Neil; and 17 grandchildren.
Visitation will be from 3 to 8 p.m., Tuesday at Lutheran Church of the Atonement, 909 E. Main St., Barrington. Services will be held at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday at the church.
