Sara Shapiro Miller (July 8, 1924 – October 29, 2016) was an American real estate executive and sculptor. Born Sara Shirlee Shapiro on the west side of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, Miller was the daughter of Philip Shapiro, a baker, and Rose Morris Shapiro, a boarding house proprietor. The tenth of twelve children, she grew up in the

Lincoln Park Lincoln Park is a park along Lake Michigan on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. Named after US President Abraham Lincoln, it is the city's largest public park and stretches for seven miles (11 km) from Grand Avenue (500 N), on the south, ...

neighborhood. After graduation from Jones Commercial High School she entered the world of

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

, taking a job as a professional realtor with

Arthur Rubloff Arthur Rubloff (June 25, 1902 – May 24, 1986) was an American real estate developer who founded Arthur Rubloff & Co. and is credited with naming and developing North Michigan Avenue in Chicago, Illinois into the "Magnificent Mile". Biography ...

. Beginning in the field of office leasing, she later moved to commercial and industrial real estate, eventually becoming a vice president at Rubloff's firm. Married in 1946 to Ira J. Miller, she was the mother of three children. Miller and her husband were among the founders of Little City, and did philanthropic work on behalf of the developmentally disabled, raising money to build a home for them in

Palatine A palatine or palatinus (in Latin; plural ''palatini''; cf. derivative spellings below) is a high-level official attached to imperial or royal courts in Europe since Roman times.

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

. The couple were members of

Anshe Emet Synagogue Anshe Emet Synagogue is a Conservative synagogue located in the Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the oldest congregations in Chicago. History of Anshe Emet Synagogue Anshe Emet Synagogue was established in 1873 in a buil ...

. Miller began studying ceramics and sculpture in her retirement years, studying at Truman College and at the

School of the Art Institute of Chicago The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) is a private art school associated with the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to an art students' cooperative founded in 1866, which grew into the museum and ...

and working with Anna Varalla and Morino Moretti, the latter in

Orvieto Orvieto () is a city and ''comune'' in the Province of Terni, southwestern Umbria, Italy, situated on the flat summit of a large butte of volcanic tuff. The city rises dramatically above the almost-vertical faces of tuff cliffs that are compl ...

. She was a member of Chicago's Palette and Chisel Artist's studio. In later years she lived at the Hancock Tower, where she died. Miller produced a number of public sculptures for Chicago institutions during her career. Among these were busts of

Saul Bellow Saul Bellow (born Solomon Bellows; 10 July 1915 – 5 April 2005) was a Canadian-born American writer. For his literary work, Bellow was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the Nobel Prize for Literature, and the National Medal of Arts. He is the only wr ...

, installed in the

Harold Washington Library The Harold Washington Library Center is the central library for the Chicago Public Library System. It is located just south of the Loop 'L', at 400 S. State Street in Chicago, in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is a full-service library and is ...

in 1993, and

Gwendolyn Brooks Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks (June 7, 1917 – December 3, 2000) was an American poet, author, and teacher. Her work often dealt with the personal celebrations and struggles of ordinary people in her community. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetr ...

, commissioned for the same location the following year. Brooks honored the artist with a poem upon completion of her portrait. The library also owns a 1994 bust of

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century fic ...

by the artist. Copies of the busts of both Bellow and Brooks are owned by the National Portrait Gallery.

References

1924 births 2016 deaths American women sculptors American real estate businesspeople Businesspeople from Chicago Artists from Chicago Sculptors from Illinois 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American businesswomen 20th-century American sculptors 20th-century American women artists 21st-century American sculptors 21st-century American women artists School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumni {{US-sculptor-stub