Jay Miller, the longest-serving executive director of the Illinois chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union ( ACLU ) , died Jan. 3 of complications related to emphysema, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. He was 83.
Born in Cleveland in 1928, Miller grew up in Chicago, eventually moving back to Cleveland, the Chicago Tribune reported. He returned to the Windy City in 1961, becoming executive director of the ACLU of Illinois in 1965. He went to lead the ACLU of Northern California in San Francisco in 1971, eventually returning to the ACLU of Illinois in 1979 and retiring at the end of 2000.
"He traveled to every corner of the state to speak out for basic rights — whether popular or unpopular," said Colleen K. Connell, current executive director of the state ACLU. "He simply thought we had an obligation to follow the Constitution."
The group challenged everything from city loitering laws to HIV discrimination in the workplace. It defended the rights of both pro-life and pro-choice protesters, and started a Reproductive Rights Project.
On the ACLU of Illinois' website Connell wrote, in part, "He championed rights for all persons, including women, persons from the LGBT community, persons of color and persons with disabilities. It was woven into Jay's DNA that no individual was less deserving of precious constitutional protections than any other person."
Pamela Sumners, who worked for Miller, posted on Facebook, "If all ACLU people were like Jay Miller, we'd all be better off—spoken as a former ACLU employee. He provided an actual moral example to everyone within his ambit."
Services are 11 a.m. Friday, Jan. 6, at Chicago Jewish Funerals, 8851 Skokie Blvd., Skokie.
To make a memorial gift for Miller, see www.aclu-il.org/the-aclu-of-illinois-remembers-jay-miller.
