James Grier Miller, M.D., Ph.D., founding director of the University of Michigan Mental Health Research Institute, died November 7, 2002, at his home in La Jolla, California. He was 86.

In 1955, Miller accepted the invitation of Raymond Waggoner (M.D. 1924), Sc.D., chair of the U-M Medical School’s Department of Psychiatry, to establish an interdisciplinary institute dedicated to the behavioral sciences, an advanced concept at the time. The broad nature of the Mental Health Research Institute was reflected in the disciplines represented by its members, who came from diverse University units that included the Law School and the Departments of Political Science, Psychology, Biological Chemistry, Sociology, Urban Planning and Psychiatry. Miller also initiated a new journal at the institute, Behavioral Science.

Miller left the institute in 1967 to pursue an administrative career, first as provost of the newly founded Cleveland State University, and then in 1973 as president of the University of Louisville, a position from which he retired in 1980. In 1978, together with his wife and collaborator, Jessie, Miller made the case for a unified approach to the biological, psychological and social sciences in the book Living Systems, which he regarded as the capstone of his career.

Miller was preceded in death by Jessie, his wife of 63 years, who died in July 2002. They are survived by their sons John Miller, M.D., of Indianapolis, Indiana; Thomas Miller, M.D., of San Clemente, California; and three grandchildren.

—Bernard Agranoff, M.D.

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