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Created page with "{{Infobox officeholder | name=Ralph Ross Miller | office=Louisiana State Representative for District 56 (St. Charles Parish) | party=Democrat (later Rep..."
{{Infobox officeholder
| name=Ralph Ross Miller
| office=Louisiana State Representative for District 56 (St. Charles Parish)
| party=[[Democratic Party|Democrat]] (later [[Republican Party|Republican]])
| term_start=1968
| term_end=1980
| term_start2=1982
| term_end2=1992
| preceded=Joel T. Chaisson, I
| succeeded=Joel T. Chaisson, I
| preceded2=Joel T. Chaisson, I
| succeeded2=Glenn Ansardi<br>
Joel T. Chaisson, II
| birth_date=April 1934
| birth_place=Norco, St. Charles Parish<br>[[Louisiana]], USA
| death_date=March 30, 2017 (aged 82)
| death_place=
| resting_place=
| religion=[[Roman Catholic]]
| occupation=[[Attorney]]
| spouse=Sue Cutrer Miller (married 1989-2017, his death) (not first wife)
| children=Ross A. Miller<br>
Gregory A. Miller<br>
Maria C. Miller<br>
Maureen J. Miller Earle
| parents=Homer F., Sr., and Emma Cambre Miller
| alma_mater=Destrehan High School<br/>
[[Louisiana State University]]<br/>
[[Louisiana State University Law Center]]
|branch=[[United States Army]]}
}
'''Ralph Ross Miller''' (April 1934 – March 30, 2017), was an American [[attorney]] from his native Norco, [[Louisiana]], who served as a [[Democratic Party|Democratic]] member of the [[Louisiana House of Representatives]] for District 56, which encompasses much of St. Charles Parish. He served twenty-two non-consecutive years from 1968 to 1980 and again from 1982 to 1992.<ref name=house>{{cite web|url=http://house.louisiana.gov/H_PDFdocs/HouseMembership_History_CURRENT.pdf|title=Membership in the Louisiana House of Representatives, 1812-2020|publisher=Louisiana House of Representatives|accessdate=April 8, 2017}}</ref>
The gap in Miller's House service was caused by his unsuccessful candidacy for the [[Louisiana State Senate]] in 1979, when he was defeated in his Senate bid by another Democrat, Ronald J. Landry, who served six terms from 1976 to 2000, having been unseated by the Democrat Joel Thomas Chaisson, II, a son of former Representative Joel Chaisson, I.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://senate.la.gov/Documents/Membership/1880membership.pdf|title=Membership in the Louisiana Senate|publisher=[[Louisiana State Senate]]|accessdate=April 8, 2017}}</ref>
==Background==
Miller graduated in 1952 from Destrehan High School in St. Charles Parish and served in the [[United States Army,]] dates unspecified. His son, later State Representative Gregory A. Miller of Destrehan]], was born in 1962 in Lawton, [[Oklahoma]], while Miller was stationed at Fort Sill. He obtained his undergraduate education from [[Louisiana State University]] in [[Baton Rouge]] and his legal credentials from LSU's Paul M. Hebert Law Center.<ref name=obit/>
==Career==
Though Miller served in the House as a Democrat, he was at the<ref name=house/>time of his death a registered [[Republican Party|Republican]], like his son, Representative Gregory Miller.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://voterportal.sos.la.gov/Home/Home?uid=1712321|title=Ralph Miller, April 1934; the list is maintained only with the names of living persons|publisher=[[Louisiana Secretary of State]]|accessdate=April 3, 2017}}</ref>
Representative Miller was the chairman of the House committees on the Administration of Criminal Justice and Municipal, Parochial, and Cultural Affairs. He was a member of the Council of the Louisiana State Law Institute. Miller was one of the "Young Turks," who in the 1970's brought forth legislative reforms, including accountability and independence from the [[governor of Louisiana|governor]]. The acknowledged leader of the "Young Turks," Edgerton L. “Bubba” Henry, then of Jonesboro in Jackson Parish and a former Speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives who has practiced law in Baton Rouge for years, once told Gregory Miller that Ralph Miller, who maintained scores of legislative friendships over the years, “didn’t have a mean or ugly bone in his body.”<ref name=bio>{{cite web|url=http://stcharlesheraldguide.net/details.php?id=18457|title=Longtime state rep Ralph Miller remembered among legislative "Young Turks" passes away|author=Anna Thibodeaux|publisher=''St. Charles Herald Guide''|accessdate=April 7, 2017}}</ref> Miller worked for construction in St. Charles Parish of the Hale Boggs Memorial Bridge in Luling, the East Bank (of the [[Mississippi River]]) Hurricane Levee, and the preservation of LaBranche Wetlands from commercial development. Larry Cochran, the president of the St. Charles Parish government said that Miller was “one of the most respected public servants in St. Charles Parish and we are grateful for his service.”<ref name=bio/>
After leaving the state House, Miller was a [[Lobbying|lobbyist]] for a quarter century. He was vice-president of state governmental relations for Freeport McMoRan, a mining company based in downtown [[Phoenix]], [[Arizona]], and then performed similar duties for Crescent Technologies, for whom he was still employed at the time of his death. He served on the boards of the trade association, the Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association, the Public Affairs Research Council, New Orleans Chamber of Commerce, Bureau of Government Research, the Council for a Better Louisiana, the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, and the World Trade Center New Orleans.<ref name=obit>{{cite web|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/theneworleansadvocate/obituary.aspx?pid=184793690|title=Ralph R. Miller|publisher=''New Orleans Times-Picayune''|accessdate=April 2, 2017}}</ref> His personal passion was historic preservation. As a founding member of the River Road Historic Society, he worked to restore Destrehan Plantation, an antebellum mansion built in 1790 in [[French Colonial]] style and modified in 1840 with [[Greek Revival]] [[architecture]]. He was also active in the Norco Civic Association.<ref name=bio/>
Miller died in the spring of 2017 of a brief illness a few days before his 83rd birthday. He was survived by his wife, the former Sue Cutrer, whom he wed in 1989. Besides his son Gregory, his other children are Ross A. Miller, Maria C. Miller, and Maureen J. Miller Earle. He had four children, four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Services were held on April 4, 2017, at the Sacred Heart of Jesus [[Roman Catholic|Catholic Church]] in Norco. The obituary does not specific a burial site.<ref name=obit/>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, Ralph R.}}
[[Category:Louisiana People]]
[[Category:Politicians]]
[[Category:Former Democrats]]
[[Category:Republicans]]
[[Category:Lawyers]]
[[Category:United States Army]]
[[Category:Catholics]]
| name=Ralph Ross Miller
| office=Louisiana State Representative for District 56 (St. Charles Parish)
| party=[[Democratic Party|Democrat]] (later [[Republican Party|Republican]])
| term_start=1968
| term_end=1980
| term_start2=1982
| term_end2=1992
| preceded=Joel T. Chaisson, I
| succeeded=Joel T. Chaisson, I
| preceded2=Joel T. Chaisson, I
| succeeded2=Glenn Ansardi<br>
Joel T. Chaisson, II
| birth_date=April 1934
| birth_place=Norco, St. Charles Parish<br>[[Louisiana]], USA
| death_date=March 30, 2017 (aged 82)
| death_place=
| resting_place=
| religion=[[Roman Catholic]]
| occupation=[[Attorney]]
| spouse=Sue Cutrer Miller (married 1989-2017, his death) (not first wife)
| children=Ross A. Miller<br>
Gregory A. Miller<br>
Maria C. Miller<br>
Maureen J. Miller Earle
| parents=Homer F., Sr., and Emma Cambre Miller
| alma_mater=Destrehan High School<br/>
[[Louisiana State University]]<br/>
[[Louisiana State University Law Center]]
|branch=[[United States Army]]}
}
'''Ralph Ross Miller''' (April 1934 – March 30, 2017), was an American [[attorney]] from his native Norco, [[Louisiana]], who served as a [[Democratic Party|Democratic]] member of the [[Louisiana House of Representatives]] for District 56, which encompasses much of St. Charles Parish. He served twenty-two non-consecutive years from 1968 to 1980 and again from 1982 to 1992.<ref name=house>{{cite web|url=http://house.louisiana.gov/H_PDFdocs/HouseMembership_History_CURRENT.pdf|title=Membership in the Louisiana House of Representatives, 1812-2020|publisher=Louisiana House of Representatives|accessdate=April 8, 2017}}</ref>
The gap in Miller's House service was caused by his unsuccessful candidacy for the [[Louisiana State Senate]] in 1979, when he was defeated in his Senate bid by another Democrat, Ronald J. Landry, who served six terms from 1976 to 2000, having been unseated by the Democrat Joel Thomas Chaisson, II, a son of former Representative Joel Chaisson, I.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://senate.la.gov/Documents/Membership/1880membership.pdf|title=Membership in the Louisiana Senate|publisher=[[Louisiana State Senate]]|accessdate=April 8, 2017}}</ref>
==Background==
Miller graduated in 1952 from Destrehan High School in St. Charles Parish and served in the [[United States Army,]] dates unspecified. His son, later State Representative Gregory A. Miller of Destrehan]], was born in 1962 in Lawton, [[Oklahoma]], while Miller was stationed at Fort Sill. He obtained his undergraduate education from [[Louisiana State University]] in [[Baton Rouge]] and his legal credentials from LSU's Paul M. Hebert Law Center.<ref name=obit/>
==Career==
Though Miller served in the House as a Democrat, he was at the<ref name=house/>time of his death a registered [[Republican Party|Republican]], like his son, Representative Gregory Miller.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://voterportal.sos.la.gov/Home/Home?uid=1712321|title=Ralph Miller, April 1934; the list is maintained only with the names of living persons|publisher=[[Louisiana Secretary of State]]|accessdate=April 3, 2017}}</ref>
Representative Miller was the chairman of the House committees on the Administration of Criminal Justice and Municipal, Parochial, and Cultural Affairs. He was a member of the Council of the Louisiana State Law Institute. Miller was one of the "Young Turks," who in the 1970's brought forth legislative reforms, including accountability and independence from the [[governor of Louisiana|governor]]. The acknowledged leader of the "Young Turks," Edgerton L. “Bubba” Henry, then of Jonesboro in Jackson Parish and a former Speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives who has practiced law in Baton Rouge for years, once told Gregory Miller that Ralph Miller, who maintained scores of legislative friendships over the years, “didn’t have a mean or ugly bone in his body.”<ref name=bio>{{cite web|url=http://stcharlesheraldguide.net/details.php?id=18457|title=Longtime state rep Ralph Miller remembered among legislative "Young Turks" passes away|author=Anna Thibodeaux|publisher=''St. Charles Herald Guide''|accessdate=April 7, 2017}}</ref> Miller worked for construction in St. Charles Parish of the Hale Boggs Memorial Bridge in Luling, the East Bank (of the [[Mississippi River]]) Hurricane Levee, and the preservation of LaBranche Wetlands from commercial development. Larry Cochran, the president of the St. Charles Parish government said that Miller was “one of the most respected public servants in St. Charles Parish and we are grateful for his service.”<ref name=bio/>
After leaving the state House, Miller was a [[Lobbying|lobbyist]] for a quarter century. He was vice-president of state governmental relations for Freeport McMoRan, a mining company based in downtown [[Phoenix]], [[Arizona]], and then performed similar duties for Crescent Technologies, for whom he was still employed at the time of his death. He served on the boards of the trade association, the Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association, the Public Affairs Research Council, New Orleans Chamber of Commerce, Bureau of Government Research, the Council for a Better Louisiana, the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, and the World Trade Center New Orleans.<ref name=obit>{{cite web|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/theneworleansadvocate/obituary.aspx?pid=184793690|title=Ralph R. Miller|publisher=''New Orleans Times-Picayune''|accessdate=April 2, 2017}}</ref> His personal passion was historic preservation. As a founding member of the River Road Historic Society, he worked to restore Destrehan Plantation, an antebellum mansion built in 1790 in [[French Colonial]] style and modified in 1840 with [[Greek Revival]] [[architecture]]. He was also active in the Norco Civic Association.<ref name=bio/>
Miller died in the spring of 2017 of a brief illness a few days before his 83rd birthday. He was survived by his wife, the former Sue Cutrer, whom he wed in 1989. Besides his son Gregory, his other children are Ross A. Miller, Maria C. Miller, and Maureen J. Miller Earle. He had four children, four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Services were held on April 4, 2017, at the Sacred Heart of Jesus [[Roman Catholic|Catholic Church]] in Norco. The obituary does not specific a burial site.<ref name=obit/>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, Ralph R.}}
[[Category:Louisiana People]]
[[Category:Politicians]]
[[Category:Former Democrats]]
[[Category:Republicans]]
[[Category:Lawyers]]
[[Category:United States Army]]
[[Category:Catholics]]