Journalist gives largest gift in history of UW-River Falls

A journalist and historian who became a lifelong friend of the University of Wisconsin-River Falls has left more than $1 million for the university, the largest gift in its history.

Willis Harry Miller, who died last November and who took only one summer class at the school in 1939, bequeathed the institution $1.07 million. He is a former publisher of the Hudson, Wis., Star-Observer, and was well known in the St. Croix Valley region and beyond.

Miller's gift will be used to establish endowed scholarships for students in the greater Hudson area, the university said. His gift and legacy will be honored at a luncheon at UW-River Falls today.

"The gift from Mr. Miller's estate is truly historic, not only because it is the most generous gift in UW-River Falls' 135-year history, but because of the impact it will have on our university and its students," said Chancellor Dean Van Galen.

The River Falls campus, less than 30 miles from St. Paul, is the western-most institution in the 26-campus University of Wisconsin system. Forty-six percent of its students come from Minnesota and most of them from the Twin Cities. The university has about 6,000 undergraduate and 500 graduate students.

Miller's gift surpasses an estate gift of $1.05 million in 2007 from UW-River Falls alumna Lucile Spriggs. Miller's other bequests included gifts to the Education Foundation of Hudson, Hudson Area Library Foundation, St. Olaf College, the Wisconsin Historical Society, St. Croix County Historical Society, St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Hudson Hospital Health Foundation, Christian Community Home, and the Phipps Center for the Arts.

Born in Iowa City on Nov. 28, 1918, and raised in Hudson, Miller's connection to UW-River Falls started in 1939 over summer break from St. Olaf College in Northfield, where he was a member of the famed choir. He worked for the Norwegian-American Historical Association at the college, and graduated in 1940.

To supplement his income, he was a freelance reporter for the Milwaukee Sentinel and sang at funerals and for Western Union's singing telegrams. He was well known for his column, "Along Our Street," which ran for 40 years in the paper.

Miller was elected to the Wisconsin Newspaper Hall of fame in 2004, and a street in Hudson is named for him.

Miller, 89, died in St. Paul after having a stroke.