MU alumnus Lowell Miller of Loch Lloyd, Mo., has given $1.1 million to endow a faculty position in biochemistry at the University of Missouri. Mizzou’s Department of Biochemistry is part of the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources (CAFNR) and the School of Medicine. The gift creates the Lowell D. Miller Endowed Chair in Biochemistry.
“Dr. Miller’s generosity will allow MU to attract and retain the highest caliber biochemistry teachers and researchers for decades to come,” Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin said. “Endowed faculty chairs are essential to keeping MU competitive among the top research and teaching institutions in the country, and Dr. Miller’s gift will go a long way to elevate the university among our peers.”
Miller retired as a senior vice president of Marion Laboratories, where he directed research and development, and led scientists and other staff who created drugs for various human therapies.
“I have two major debts in my life that I will never be able to pay off — one to my late wife, Marian, and another to the University of Missouri,” Miller said. “Both my wife and MU were instrumental to whatever success I may have achieved in life.”
Miller is a longtime supporter to the university, creating the Lowell Miller Scholarship Fund in Biochemistry and the Lowell and Marian Miller Life Sciences Discovery Garden and Endowment; donating three Mizzou Botanic Gardens tribute benches; establishing the Marian Couranz Miller and Lowell D. Miller Fund for Nutrition Teaching; naming the Marian Couranz Miller Teaching Kitchen; and funding the Marian Couranz Miller Scholarship in Human Environmental Sciences in honor of his late wife, Marian. The couple met as students at MU.
Miller served as co-chair of the MU Life Sciences Center campaign committee. He received the Faculty-Alumni Award, the Mizzou Alumni Association’s top honor. He also has received the top CAFNR honor, the Frederick B. Mumford Distinguished Service Award. Miller served as co-chair of the For All We Call Mizzou campaign steering committee, which helped CAFNR raise $60 million as a part of the university-wide $1 billion campaign. He now serves on MU’s National One Mizzou Campaign Cabinet.
— Dale Smith
