JIm and Ruth Miller

Mr. Miller can trace his roots to Georgia Southern’s very beginnings so it was an easy decision to invest in the University. Mr. Miller’s paternal grandfather, James R. Miller, the feisty editor of the _Statesboro News, was appointed to the First District Board of Trustees. At the board’s inaugural meeting in Savannah on Dec. 1, 1906, he was elected secretary.

J.R. Miller was also part of the delegation which bid against neighboring Tattnall and Emanuel counties that day to offer a home for the newly authorized First District Agricultural and Mechanical School (FDAS). During the lively bidding session, the Bulloch delegation’s counteroffer of $125,500 finally defeated Tattnall’s bid and won the right to establish FDAS in Statesboro. J.R. Miller was appointed chairman of the committee to oversee construction of the school and manage its operations for the first six years. He remained an active FDAS supporter for many years.

But Jim Miller can also claim ‘kin’ to Georgia Southern on his mother’s side of the family. Her father, J.H. Donaldson, helped with the construction of the first campus buildings, and Mrs. Miller took lunch by horse and buggy to the construction workers each day.

With the Miller family being long time supporters of Georgia Southern, Jim and Ruth didn’t think twice about giving to the Georgia Southern University Foundation to establish and endowment to support future students and continue the ‘family legacy’.