William F. Miller (November 19, 1925 – September 27, 2017) was an American academic who was professor public and private management emeritus and a professor of computer science emeritus. He was a vice president and provost of Stanford University from 1971 to 1979, and president and CEO of

SRI International SRI International (SRI) is an American nonprofit scientific research institute and organization headquartered in Menlo Park, California. The trustees of Stanford University established SRI in 1946 as a center of innovation to support economic ...

from 1979 to 1990. He died in September 2017 at the age of 91.

Early life and education

Miller was born in

Vincennes, Indiana Vincennes is a city in and the county seat of Knox County, Indiana, United States. It is located on the lower Wabash River in the southwestern part of the state, nearly halfway between Evansville and Terre Haute. Founded in 1732 by French fur ...

. He attended

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and mone ...

, where he earned a B.S. in 1949, an M.S. in experimental physics in 1951, and a Ph.D. in theoretical physics in 1956.

Career

Miller was a director of the Applied Mathematics Division at Argonne National Laboratory, where he worked on problems in computational science. Miller was recruited to the faculty of Stanford University in 1964 by

Frederick Terman Frederick Emmons Terman (; June 7, 1900 – December 19, 1982) was an American professor and academic administrator. He was the dean of the school of engineering from 1944 to 1958 and provost from 1955 to 1965 at Stanford University. He is wid ...

, who was Stanford's vice president and provost at the time. From 1971 to 1979, Miller was the vice president and provost of Stanford University. From 1979 to 1990, Miller was the president and CEO of

, where he focused on expanding the organization's business in the Pacific Rim and acquired the

Sarnoff Corporation Sarnoff Corporation was a research and development company specializing in vision, video and semiconductor technology. It was named for David Sarnoff, the longtime leader of RCA and NBC, and had headquarters in West Windsor Township, New Jersey, th ...

as a subsidiary of SRI. Miller has been a member of numerous boards of directors, including but not limited to

Wells Fargo Wells Fargo & Company is an American multinational financial services company with corporate headquarters in San Francisco, California; operational headquarters in Manhattan; and managerial offices throughout the United States and intern ...

, Borland International, McKenna Group, Palyn-Gould Group, Who Where?, Quest Gen and the BHP International Advisory Council. He was an initial investor in

Mayfield Fund Mayfield, also known as Mayfield Fund, is a US-based venture capital firm that focuses on early-stage to growth-stage investments in enterprise and consumer technology companies. Founded in 1969 and based in Menlo Park, California Menlo Park ...

, an early venture capital organization.

Awards and honors

Miller was given an honorary Doctor of Science degree from his alma mater,

, in 1972. In 1989, Tau Beta Pi recognized him as an Eminent Engineer.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, William F. 1925 births 2017 deaths Argonne National Laboratory people Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering People from Vincennes, Indiana Purdue University alumni SRI International people Stanford University Graduate School of Business faculty