Bruce Miller was everywhere. At student government meetings. At city council hearings. On various campus corners, giving suggestions, advocating, telling the world how things should be done differently.
He wasn’t always tactful. He wasn’t always welcome. But his death on Tuesday leaves a hole in the Eugene community. Miller, 62, who died Tuesday morning of a heart attack in his South Eugene home, will be remembered for the role he played as a campus and community activist. Miller, who often wore multiple shirts, a baseball cap, a pair of large glasses and a yellow rain jacket and carried a large mug full of soda, was a figure on campus for decades.
ASUO President Adam Petkun said Miller was always there to offer his ideas. He constantly challenged student government leaders, as well as complimented them when he thought they had done well, Petkun said.
“I think it’s a function of how much he cared about what was going on on campus,” Petkun said.
Never a University student, Miller regularly attended ASUO Student Senate meetings, Programs Finance Committee hearings and other budget hearings on campus. He gathered information on campus developments, condensed it into
frequent, type-written newsletters that praised or criticized University and student leaders.
He often carried picket signs to protest or
support issues.
He even took photographs of people near the EMU whom “he felt were subversive,” Eugene Police Department officer Randy Ellis said.
Miller was never reluctant to share his
perspectives, whether people wanted to hear them or not.
“He wasn’t always very tactful, but he was well intended,” said Courtney Hight, Oregon Student Association campus organizer, who knew Miller for about six years. “He felt student groups, the Executive, the Senate could do more.”
While Miller had a lot to say, he didn’t always come across well with students and some say a few of his ideas were “totally out of left field.”
“There were moments when he was borderline harassment,” Hight said.
Miller had mental problems that made it difficult for him to interact with others properly, his younger brother Bob Miller said.
“Bruce lacked all social graces,” Bob Miller said. “Bruce was a couple cards short of a
full deck.”
Bruce Miller lived alone and never married or had children.
However, Bob Miller stressed that his brother’s actions were always well intentioned. He researched topics thoroughly and had spent his life contacting people at all levels of government to tell them how things should be done.
“It was a usually a well thought out opinion, whether it was welcome or not,” Bob Miller said, adding that what his brother really cared about was making the world a better place.
“Once he got onto something, he was pretty single-minded about it. He was pretty relentless,” Bob Miller said.
“(Bruce Miller and his father) became the first two salesmen of Nike shoes,” Bob Miller said.
“He saw things that people didn’t see,” Bob Miller said. “That’s why he annoyed people.”
Because of his persistence, Bruce Miller had been kicked out or barred from several campus areas.

Department of Public Safety Lieutenant Herb Horner said he can remember Miller getting kicked off campus after he harassed people in the ASUO and Greek Life offices. Miller appealed the decision to then-DPS Director Tom Fitzpatrick, who voided the trespass order on the understanding that Miller would be respectful to other people and not interrupt public meetings.
“We got calls from a lot of different groups about him, even the law school,” Horner said. “I think he finally got it after that time he got trespassed.”
PFC Chairwoman Persis Pohowalla said Miller “wasn’t a big pain at my meetings,” but she had been at prior meetings when Miller was very vocal and even a “nuisance.”
“Most of the time, it’s just unnecessary, irrelevant comments,” Pohowalla said. “I will admit that he had his very rare, rare moments when he said something useful.”
Oregon Commentator Editor in Chief Tyler Graf, who Miller frequently visited at the journal’s office, said his biggest memory of Miller is when Miller stood outside of a Student Senate meeting last year screaming at then-Senate President Ben Strawn, calling him incompetent. Strawn was upset because Miller had contacted Strawn’s mother and told her that her son was incompetent, Graf said.
“At first Bruce just seemed odd, because what 60-year-old man pays attention to student government? But deep down I think he was just a generally nice guy who wanted (student leaders) to take responsibility for their actions because he knew they were going to be our future leaders,” Graf said.
Strawn said his strongest memory of Miller was when he approached his mother while she was on campus helping Strawn campaign for ASUO president and told her that Strawn was “mean, spiteful and immature.” His mother told Miller to take a hike, Strawn said.
That memory was probably not the most representative of the man, Strawn said, adding that Miller was “always pushing you to do a better job than what you were doing.”
Hight said at times Miller did have helpful suggestions, once he finished making excessive points.
“It was kind of like getting through the static,” Hight said, adding that one of his good ideas was to get parents more involved in lobbying efforts.
Kathy Viscarra, of the Campus Copy Center, met Miller when he came to make copies of his newsletter.
“He was quite willing to express his point of view,” she said. “You either liked Bruce, or you didn’t like Bruce.”
Miller was also very active at the community level. Eugene Mayor Kitty Piercy said Miller regularly attended city council meetings, monitored city issues and frequently exhorted the city council to take action.
“He cared about our community and urged us all to be careful in safeguarding our natural resources and zealous in protecting the rights of the most vulnerable,” she said in an e-mail to the Emerald. “He could be a pretty loud voice on occasion and even a challenge to deal with at times, but he gave his best to us and we will miss him.”
Students leaders also expressed how different meetings will be without Miller.
“He will be missed for his consistency,” Hight said. “He was more dedicated than most of the student body.”

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