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[Page S1591]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
REMEMBERING BOBBY MILLER
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, Vermont has lost one of the finest people
we have had in our State. Bobby Miller epitomized the very best of
Vermont ideals, from his childhood straight through all that he
accomplished in our State. Throughout it all, he and his lovely wife
Holly were a constant, quiet source of giving. The Millers have always
prioritized Vermont communities, never losing sight of their humble
upbringings and never expecting praise for their philanthropy, even
when they most deserved it. I know Marcelle and I join with all
Vermonters in mourning the passing of Bobby Miller. Our hearts go out
to Holly and their family.
I ask unanimous consent that the article, ``Developer and
Philanthropist Robert `Bobby' Miller Dies at 84,'' originally published
by ``Seven Days,'' be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
[From Seven Days, Feb. 5, 2020]
Developer and Philanthropist Robert `Bobby' Miller Dies at 84
Vermont lost one of its most generous--and colorful--
philanthropists on Tuesday, February 4, when developer Robert
``Bobby'' Miller died of a heart attack, at the age of 84.
A self-made man who grew up dirt poor in Rutland, Miller
gave away millions to Vermont nonprofits in cash donations
and in-kind work through his company, REM Development. He and
his wife, Holly, who survives him, contributed to the King
Street Center, Champlain College, the Visiting Nurse
Association, the VNA Respite House, Flynn Center for the
Performing Arts and many other local organizations. Their
2013 contribution to the University of Vermont Medical Center
was valued at $13 million.
Miller invented himself. With just a high school education,
and a winning combination of charm and audacity, he worked
his way up through the building industry in Vermont. Despite
losing an arm at birth, he became an auto mechanic, then
convinced a Burlington engineering firm to hire him as a
draftsman. After learning on the job, he started New England
Air Systems in 1972. Twelve years later, he sold the business
to his employees. ``It gets companies spread out to people
who would never own them,'' he told me when I profiled the
Millers 20 years ago in Seven Days. He started REM
Development in 1984. Although it is based in Chittenden
County, the company also built, bought and rehabbed
properties in downtown Newport and Rutland.
Despite his financial success, Miller was not a typical
businessman. He preferred verbal agreements to written ones
and engaged in all manner of creative financing to spark
economic development. He happily rented office space to Seven
Days when the paper started in 1995--a windowless room in the
basement of his building, Miller's Landmark, at the top of
Burlington's Church Street. He suggested we pay $300 a month
for the first year and, if Seven Days were still in business
at the end of it, we could pay him the difference between
that sum and the real rent--aka a balloon payment.
(At the request of Mr. McConnell, the following statement was ordered
to be printed in the Record.)
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