2018 -- S 2899

========

LC005742

========

     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2018

____________

S E N A T E   R E S O L U T I O N

EXPRESSING DEEPEST CONDOLENCES ON THE PASSING OF SAMUEL A. MILLER

     Introduced By: Senators Ruggerio, McCaffrey, Goodwin, Gallo, and Lombardi

     Date Introduced: May 17, 2018

     Referred To: Recommended for Immediate Consideration

     WHEREAS, It is with great sadness that this Senate has learned of the passing of Samuel

A. Miller, the devoted husband of Anne Boardman Miller, and the beloved father of Alex and

Owen Miller; and

     WHEREAS, Born in Providence and raised on the East Side of the City, Sam Miller was

a son of Dian Kaufman Reynolds and the late Daniel B. Miller, and the brother of our good friend

and colleague Senator Joshua Miller, Adam Miller, and the late Zachary Miller. He was the

brother-in-law of Nancy Miller, the uncle of Nicholas Miller, and the step-son of the late Edwin

Reynolds; and

     WHEREAS, From an early age, Mr. Miller acquired an interest in the arts from his

mother who worked as a stage manager at Trinity Repertory Company. His passion and talent for

the theater led to him playing Tiny Tim in the first two productions of A Christmas Carol. His

love of poetry also began at a young age and flourished throughout his lifetime. He was a poet

and a champion for poetry, and later in life, conferred with Robert Pinsky on the Favorite Poem

Project at its inception; and

     WHEREAS, Continuing on the path to what was to become his lifelong vocation, Mr.

Miller earned his Bachelor's degree in Theater from Wesleyan University; and

     WHEREAS, From 1982 through 1986, Mr. Miller was Managing Director of Pilobolus.

He served as President of the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, where he produced the River to

River Festival from 2010 until January of 2016. In 2014, he returned to his alma mater to become

the Co-Founder/Director of the Institute for Curatorial Practice in Performance. From 2016 to

2018, he collaborated to establish the CODA/2021 project at the Center for the Art of

Performance at UCLA; and

     WHEREAS, In addition, for a decade Mr. Miller served as Executive Director of the

New England Foundation for the Arts, where he founded the National Dance Project, and was

President of Leveraging Investments in Creativity, Executive Director of the Jacobs Pillow Dance

Festival, a trustee of Danspace Project and AMRITA, and sat on the advisory boards of the

Creative Capital Initiative, Reggie Wilson's Fist & Heel, and ODC/SF. He was also a Senior

Advisor to the Philadelphia Contemporary project, produced the "Dance, the Spirit of Cambodia"

tour and the Eiko and Koma "Retrospective", and was a consultant to The Ford Foundation, A.W.

Mellon Foundation and The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage; and

     WHEREAS, Recognized by his peers, Sam Miller was honored with the insignia of the

Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French Republic in 2017; and

     WHEREAS, Described as "brilliant, innovative and intuitive," Sam Miller was an

extraordinary man in many ways. He was beloved by family and friends, accomplished in the

arts, and his determination in the face of adversity sustained a remarkable seven-year remission

after treatment for multiple myeloma. He enriched the lives of all who knew him and he will be

dearly missed; now therefore be it

     RESOLVED, That this Senate of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations

hereby expresses our deepest sympathies on the passing of Samuel A. Miller; and be it further

     RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to

transmit duly certified copies of this resolution to Anne Boardman Miller, Dian Kaufman

Reynolds, the Honorable Joshua Miller and Family, and Adam Miller.

========

LC005742

========

LC005742 - Page 2 of 2