Born in Pittsburgh, Norman C. “Mike” Miller started his journalism career at The Wall Street Journal. His investigative reporting on crooked commodities trader Tino de Angelis—whose fraudulent soybean oil contracts cheated investors out of $175 million (about $1.8 billion today)—won the 1964 Pulitzer Prize and formed the basis for his 1965 book, The Great Salad Oil Swindle.

In his mid-40s, says Miller’s son Scott, Miller was recruited to California by the Los Angeles Times to help build the paper’s national coverage; he was its national editor from 1983 to 1997. Retired journalist Roger Smith was assistant national editor and then deputy editor under Miller ’56 Com, and calls him “the most straightforward, honest, caring manager you could ask for.” Miller’s “adherence to ethical standards and balanced reporting,” says Smith, made him a knowledgeable and confident leader, one who tried to connect his Los Angeles audience with stories from around the country.

In his personal life, his late daughter Teresa wrote in 2015, Miller was set in his ways—eating the same breakfast and lunch for years on end—and “a pretty big klutz”: “Dad was the finest man I have ever known, but he is also the only guy I have ever seen step into the dog’s water bowl even when the bowl was next to the wall.” Miller’s love of Penn State and gratitude for his journalism training led him and his late wife to establish the Norman C. and Mollie Miller Journalism Scholarship for Daily Collegian staff.

Miller (Alum. Council, Dist. Alum., Alum. Fellow, PKA, Collegian, Lion’s Paw, Skull & Bones) died March 29, 2025, in Pasadena, Calif. He is survived by Scott, son Charlie, daughter Mary Ellen, eight grandchildren, and one great-grandchild. —Anna Andersen