Physician, 81, was also civil-rights activist

Dr. Earl V. Miller, a distinguished physician and former civil-rights activist, died in his sleep Sunday at his Seattle home. He was 81.

Dr. Miller became the first African-American doctor to practice urology west of the Mississippi when he moved to Seattle in the summer of 1959. He was later honored as a local pioneer in his medical field by the Black Heritage Society of Washington State.

In addition to his medical career, Dr. Miller emerged as a force in the civil-rights movement in Seattle during the 1960s, fighting to end segregated housing and schools.

He died of natural causes, said his wife, Dr. Rosalie Reddick Miller, a pioneer in her own right. She became Seattle's first black woman dentist in 1959.

Dr. Rosalie Miller described her husband as quiet, serious and tenacious.

"He had a typical surgeon's personality," she recalled. "He was picking up behind you constantly."

He also was kind and loyal to his friends, whom he chose carefully. "He was not the kind of person who wanted a lot of friends," his wife said.

Earl Miller was born on May 9, 1923, in Natchez, Miss. He studied medicine during World War II at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tenn., as part of the Army's Specialized Training Program.

He also met his future wife. The couple married in 1947 and moved to Columbus, Ga. The segregated Southern city was an uncomfortable fit for the young black professionals. Even before the civil-rights movement, the Millers fought against discrimination and led voter-registration drives among blacks in the city.

After seven years in general medicine, Dr. Miller decided to become a surgeon. He took surgical residencies at the Tuskegee Institute and at Meharry, then became the first black urology resident at the University of Iowa College of Medicine.

Iowa City was a new world for the couple. Though among a handful of black people there, they found themselves welcomed by neighbors and colleagues.

"It's easy for people to be accepting when there's very few of another race around," Rosalie Miller said.

In 1959, the couple and their three children — with a fourth on the way — moved to Seattle. Dr. Earl Miller, who had visited the city earlier, promised his wife that in Seattle they could live anywhere they wanted and that he could get privileges at any of the hospitals.

What they found, his wife recalled, was a city "not much different than Columbus."

Landlords in Seattle's Queen Anne, Mount Baker and other neighborhoods refused to rent to them. He struggled to find an office for his burgeoning practice. And their children were forced into segregated schools.

"For one year I didn't do anything but cry," his wife recalled.

The family finally settled into a home near Garfield High School in the city's Central Area, and Dr. Earl Miller opened his practice in a downtown office.

He became chief of urology at Harborview Medical Center and was a clinical associate professor at the University of Washington. He was a member of several medical associations and delivered papers on urology before the National Medical Association, recalled Mary T. Henry, a longtime family friend whose husband was also among the first black doctors in the city.

"He was basically a scientist," Henry said. "He was extremely proud of his practice."

In the 1960s, Dr. Miller became active with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Congress for Racial Equality and was cited as one of the most influential African Americans in the community, Henry said.

Before open-housing laws, he served along with late Seattle philanthropist Sidney Gerber and Jim Kimbrough on the board of Harmony Homes, a venture that built homes for black families in white neighborhoods, Henry said.

He was also a member of the first official citizens committee to deal with the segregation issue in Seattle schools, Henry said.

Away from medicine and activism, Dr. Miller was an avid reader of ancient and modern history and became a connoisseur and collector of fine wines. He retired from medicine in 1993.

Besides his wife, he is survived by daughters Miriam Miller, Beryl Miller and Kyle Miller, all of Seattle; sons Earl Miller Jr. of Santa Monica, Calif., and Michael Miller of Atlanta; and four grandchildren.

At his request there will be no service. Memorials can be made to a charity of choice, the family said.

Ray Rivera: 206-464-2926 or rayrivera@seattletimes.com