UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — There are hundreds of Penn State journalism students who never met Art Miller but share his passion for the craft, and opportunities made possible by Miller have allowed those students to hone their skills and serve people across the Pennsylvania with timely, high-quality reporting and news gathering.
Hundreds more students will similarly benefit in the future, as Miller’s visionary support for his alma mater empowers students and impacts communities.
Miller, who crafted a 43-year career in journalism, died on Nov. 16. He was 101.
Miller’s $500,000 gift to Penn State in 2020 created the Arthur P. Miller Newsroom Fund in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications. His passion for supporting student opportunities and quality journalism resulted from his experience as a journalist and his respect for the importance of the craft.
Support from Miller and his wife, Marge, largely benefitted the News Lab at Penn State. Housed in the Bellisario College, the News Lab facilitates partnerships between professional news organizations and student journalists — regularly collaborating on long-form and special projects.
“Art and Marge Miller’s early investment in the News Lab was the seed funding necessary to launch a powerful initiative that has transformed on-campus professional opportunities for students,” said Maggie Messitt, the Norman Eberly Professor of Practice in the Bellisario College and director of the News Lab. “His belief in the potential of Penn State students to address critical coverage gaps across Pennsylvania has been validated through the News Lab’s rapid growth and impact. ... Art Miller's visionary investment has unlocked the potential of Penn State students, diversified the future of journalism and empowered a new generation of journalists to serve communities across Pennsylvania and beyond. His legacy will live on through the hundreds of students whose trajectories have been forever altered by the opportunities he made possible.”
Among the many News Lab efforts and partnerships in recent years have been coverage of the impact of inflation in Tyrone, the maternal health care crisis in Elk County and an investigation into mental health care across rural Pennsylvania. The News Lab regularly partners with news organizations to focus on election coverage and has developed beats that allow a focus on topics such as disability, food instability, housing instability, public health care and rural transportation. Work from the News Lab has been published or broadcast by more than 70 news organizations across nine states.
Miller earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism from Penn State in 1947. His undergraduate career at Penn State was interrupted by World War II, when he served as a radar officer on a troop transport in the Pacific Ocean, and he completed his degree with support from the G.I. Bill. He served as sports editor of The Daily Collegian as well as chair of the campus chapter of Sigma Delta Chi. He earned a master’s degree at Columbia University in 1948.
Miller began his career as a journalist with the Chester Times in Pennsylvania. After serving as news editor of the Navy’s newsmagazine All Hands in Washington, D.C., he wrote for the International Press Service of the U.S. Information Agency before joining the National Geographic Society where he was assistant editor of the “Geographic School Bulletin,” planning content and layout for 240 weekly issues as circulation grew from 30,000 to 500,000. He wrote chapters for five National Geographic books that sold 1.5 million copies. He was with the National Geographic Society for 15 years.
In 1974, Miller became the public affairs officer for the Mid-Atlantic Region of the National Park Service as the Park Service helped spearhead the celebration of the nation’s bicentennial in 1976. He worked for the Park Service until his retirement in 1990.
In retirement, the longtime member of the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., remained active and productive. He and his wife Marge, who retired from the American Red Cross, formed an editorial partnership that took them 88,000 miles across the country in their motorhome. They produced a series of seven books about natural and cultural history, including three in the Park Ranger Guide series and one about famous Pennsylvanians.
Miller belonged to the Society of Professional Journalists, National Association of Government Communicators, Philadelphia Public Relations Association and Delaware County Press Club. He sang for 28 years with the Bryn Mawr Mainliners barbershop chorus, was a devoted member of Wayne United Methodist Church and served as a trustee of the Lower Providence Community Library.
He also served as a disaster official with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Together, he and Marge served as instructors for 12 years with the Road Scholar program, with which they also traveled widely.
A Celebration of Life will be held at 11 a.m. Dec. 12 at Wayne United Methodist Church in Wayne.
Gifts in Miller’s memory may be made to the Arthur P. Miller Newsroom Fund at Penn State (Maggie Messitt, Bellisario College of Communications, 201 Old Main, University Park, Pa., 16802).