Larry H. Miller — car dealer, Utah Jazz owner, philanthropist, entrepreneur, Utah icon — died Friday, Feb. 20, 2009, at his Salt Lake home at the age of 64 after a long battle with various health problems.
Brother Miller is survived by Gail, his high school sweetheart whom he married 48 years ago, and their five children — Greg, Roger, Steve, Karen and Bryan, as well as more 21 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
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President Thomas S. Monson issued the following statement Friday evening:
“I was sad to hear of the passing of Larry H. Miller after a valiant battle with ill health. He was a kind, generous man, a great citizen, and friend to the community and his church.
“In recent years, his generosity included significant underwriting for the Joseph Smith Papers Project that is bringing the Prophet’s work to life. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife Gail and their family.”
Among his many philanthropic endeavors, Brother Miller has been a major underwriter of the Joseph Smith Papers Project, a massive effort to assemble and publish history’s most comprehensive collection of the Prophet’s papers. The first volume in this documentary-editing project was published in November by the Church Historian’s Press, with many more volumes to follow in the next few years.
“The project has had a wonderful benefactor in Larry H. Miller and his wife, Gail,” said Elder Marlin K. Jensen of the Seventy, Church Historian and Recorder, during a Church News interview for an article published Oct. 25, 2008. He said the businessman had “as one of his objectives in life to make sure that ‘millions will know “Brother Joseph” again,’ the words he uses when he talks about this.”
A companion television series to the project has been carried on Sunday evenings for the past year on Brother Miller’s Salt Lake City television station KJZZ.
