It is with VERY deep sadness that I report the passing of Bernard (Bernie) Miller at age 84 on October 4th 2003.

As a Scout from Bronx, NY he attended the 1937 National Jamboree. He served on the service corps for the 1939 New York’s World Fair. As a youth he earned the Eagle Scout rank and was a member of Ranachqua and later Man-A-Hattin lodges. As an adult, GNYC presented him with the Silver Beaver. The State of New York presented him with the George Meaney Award. He served on the staff of six national jamborees and two world jamborees. He worked with Chief Scout Executives from James West through Alden Barber.

During World War II he served in the US Army Air Corps where he was awarded the Air Medal and Distinguished Flying Cross.

Bernie was a very active and passionate enthusiast in our hobby. He received ASTA’s Boxer Award. He amassed the best BSA insignia collection. He and his wife Rita literally traveled the world in the pursuit of Scouting memorabilia. He pioneered collecting areas well before others. He was a regular presenter at the original Philadelphia TORs often taking first place.

He had a vision for creating an encyclopedia of Scouting memorabilia. To that end, he did basic and primary research on many of the major areas of our hobby. His work is reflected in the two-volume book Scouting History Through Memorabilia.

Tragedy struck the Miller family in 1970. There is a Pulitzer Prize winning photograph of a girl crying over the slain body of a Kent State University student. That student was Jeff Miller, Bernie’s youngest son. Bernie never talked about this but in handling his collection I often came across pictures of Bernie and Jeff at Scout functions. As a father myself, I don’t want to imagine the anguish this must have caused. Bernie was a deeply caring individual.

Let’s remember him for his pursuit of excellence in the hobby and for his, sometimes devilish, smile. The following is a link to a picture of Bernie standing before Mt. Fuji at the 1971 World Jamboree where he was on VIP staff. The principle components of his collection are now part of the International Scouting Museum in Las Vegas, NV.