inducted 2011

Miller graduated from Country Day School and the University of Kansas where he was a member of the Beta Theta Pi Fraternity.  He helped establish a Beta Chapter on the UMKC Campus.  Miller served in the Hawaiian Department of the U.S. Army prior to Pearl Harbor and during World War II in the U.S. Navy, from which he was discharged as a Lt. Commander in 1945.  Upon his father’s death in 1950, Miller became President of the J. C. Nichols Company, which he headed until his retirement in 1988. 

Miller enjoyed the challenge and opportunities he saw for Kansas City and often focused on fundraising, for which he earned the nickname “White Heat” among his civic friends.  This included raising the qualifying moneys for bonds to build the Kansas City Sports Complex and KCI, the new International Airport.  A strong admirer of Ike Davis’ leadership as mayor he also supported Ike’s “Sister Cities” concept and carried an invitation to Seville to become our first Sister City.  Miller would often point out that his parents had not given him a middle name, but Mother Nature did, and his business card quoted Calvin Coolidge on the subject of persistence, as Author, and Miller “Persistence” Nichols as Reciter.  

Miller served on many civic executive committees including the Chamber of Commerce which named him Mr. Kansas City in 1969.   He served as Charter Member of the Civic Council, where he had continued as Honorary Director.  He served as Vice Chairman of Midwest Research Institute and chaired the Building Committee for its present site.  He was General Chairman of the Heart of America United Fund Campaign and served two terms as Chairman of the Kansas City Crime Commission.  After serving as President of the Kansas City Philharmonic Association in 1963, he chaired the Trustees of the Philharmonic Foundation; he later served as a Director of the Performing Arts Foundation. 

As Miller participated in the suburban growth of Kansas City, he recognized the importance of preserving the cultural core that had emerged around the Nelson-Atkins Museum and the University of Kansas City.  He helped to acquire additional land that would allow growth opportunity, first for Rockhurst College and then for UMKC, so that these institutions could remain in the central city.  For some 30 years, he worked with the University Trustees to take that campus from a 75-acre site to approximately 225 acres.   

In the real estate profession, Miller served as Director of the Kansas City, Missouri, Real Estate Board and as Regional Vice President of the National Institute of Real Estate Brokers.  He was also a Founding Director of the Heart of America Chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors.  In 1970 he was elected Kansas City Realtor of the Year by the Kansas City Real Estate Board.  Miller was very honored that the J.C. Nichols Company received the 1993 ULI Award for Excellence, the Heritage Award, which was presented to the Country Club Plaza, Kansas City, MO.  Later in the 1990’s, the Nichols Family and the Urban Land Institute, endowed the annual “ULI/J.C. Nichols Prize for Visionary Urban Development.” 

Miller found great pleasure in beautification.  His attitude toward the Country Club Plaza was “we can always make it a little better.”  Many of the handsome sculptures and fountains located on the Plaza have a Miller Nichols story such as the Neptune Fountain, which was brought to his attention by a local scrap metal dealer.  He enjoyed seeing the transformation of nine courtyards, which the J.C. Nichols Company reclaimed from former filling station sites on the Plaza.   Beautification to Miller also involved physical participation and he enjoyed working alongside his friend Dr. Ben McCallister in the restoration of Mill Creek Park, east of St. Luke’s Hospital.

In 1960, Miller along with family, friends and business associates, the City of Kansas City, Missouri, dedicated the J.C. Nichols Memorial Fountain in Mill Creek Park.  Miller had a key role in locating the fountain, the fundraising and the installation of one the most loved and photographed fountains in Kansas City, Missouri.

For Miller, his family, the Kansas City community, and the J.C. Nichols Company  were the most important aspects of his life.  In 1941, Miller married Catherine Caldwell and raised 4 daughters:  Kay, Nance, Ann and Lynn.  In 1955, he and Katie, with friends Joe and Cap Gregg, bought a cattle ranch on the Frying Pan River near Basalt, Colorado.  Miller enjoyed participating in improvement projects at the ranch. Horseback rides, pack trips, hiking, fishing, camping and cookouts  were an important part of Ranch summers with family and friends. In 1979, Miller married Jeannette T. Nichols and remained together until his death in 2000.

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