Gavin Miller; Head of County Bar Assn., Community Leader

Gavin Miller, former president of the Los Angeles County Bar Assn., has died. He was 71.

Miller died Sunday of cancer at his Pasadena home.

An expert on corporate and securities law, Miller practiced in Los Angeles for 36 years, most recently with the firm Heller, Ehrman, White & McAuliffe.

He headed the county lawyers’ group in 1983 and in 1994 received its highest honor, the Shattuck Price Memorial Award. In 1991, Miller was president of the Los Angeles County Bar Foundation.

A community leader, Miller was a director of the Constitutional Rights Foundation and a trustee of the Nature Conservancy’s Southern California chapter.

Born in New York and brought up in Montreal, Miller served in the U.S. Army before attending Harvard. He earned both his undergraduate and law degrees there with honors and edited the law review.

He began his career in New York City, but relocated to Los Angeles in 1961 to join the firm of Kindel & Anderson. Later he was a founding partner of Agnew, Miller & Carlson. He joined his current firm in 1990.

An outdoor sports enthusiast, Miller skied at Yellowstone and Yosemite, climbed the Swiss Alps and hiked across England.

He is survived by his wife, Suzanne; three daughters, Katherine Conrad, Emily Verea and Louise Franklin; two stepchildren, Cynthia Sue Garlough and Stephen Janes; a brother, George Miller, and two grandchildren.