PASADENA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 30, 2011--
Avery
Dennison Corporation (NYSE:AVY) today announced the death of Charles
D. Miller, who as chairman and chief executive officer from 1977 to 1998
was instrumental in transforming the company from a U.S.-based
manufacturer into a global Fortune 500 market leader in
pressure-sensitive labeling materials and office products.
Former Avery Dennison chairman and chief executive officer Charles D. "Chuck" Miller (shown here in 1985) died at 83 on November 23. Miller, who led the transformation of the company into a global Fortune 500 market leader, was a prominent civic leader, supporting the Los Angeles business community and numerous non-profit organizations. (Photo: Business Wire)
Miller, 83, died at his home in Pasadena on November 23 due to
complications from emphysema.
“Chuck Miller’s impact on Avery Dennison was immeasurable,” said Dean A.
Scarborough, Avery Dennison chairman, president and chief executive
officer. “Every aspect of our business, from vision to strategy to
execution to culture, has been shaped for the better by his passion and
imagination. Numerous organizations in Southern California benefited
from his tireless and wide-ranging philanthropic leadership over the
past four decades. I will miss him as a leader, a mentor and a friend.”
Miller began his 47-year association with Avery Dennison in 1964 when he
joined the Avery Products Corporation, the precursor of Avery Dennison.
Over the next 10 years, he held a series of operating and executive
roles in the U.S. and Europe and was named president and chief operating
officer in 1976. In 1977, he was elected chief executive officer, and,
in 1983, chairman of the board. He served as CEO for 21 years, as
chairman of the board for 17 years, and as a member of the board of
directors for over 30 years. He continued to serve the company as a
director emeritus until his death.
Under Miller’s leadership, Avery Dennison grew dramatically, with annual
net sales increasing during his tenure as CEO from $423 million to $3.3
billion in 1998. Investing in research and development to introduce
innovative products, the company established itself as the global leader
in pressure-sensitive materials and finished labels. Miller also led the
company into other lines of business, the most prominent of which was
office products. Through a series of acquisitions culminating with the
1990 merger with Dennison Manufacturing Company, Miller established the
Avery brand and the company as a global office products leader as well.
Recognizing the company’s large opportunities outside the United States
– among his earliest actions as CEO was renaming the company Avery
International – Miller led a vigorous global expansion effort.
Throughout his tenure as CEO, he expanded operations and sales in
Europe, South America and Asia. His most prescient actions led to the
creation of the pressure-sensitive labeling industry in China. He
established the company’s first manufacturing operations there in 1994
and, to ensure growth in the use of pressure-sensitive materials, he
founded the Avery Dennison Label Converting College near Shanghai to
train local commercial printers in their use.
While aggressively driving international expansion, Miller segmented the
company’s product lines and markets and instituted rigorous operating
procedures, management controls and financial planning processes that
strengthened the company’s financial foundation. Miller was also
responsible for codifying Avery Dennison’s corporate values and
strengthening the company’s management development processes to build
leaders with a global mindset.
“Chuck’s core belief to manage change through creativity, courage and
confidence inspired many, and it is deeply rooted in the company’s
leadership principles today,” Scarborough said.
In 1999, the company named its Pasadena corporate headquarters building
the Charles D. Miller Corporate Center in honor of his impact on the
company.
Miller served in key business and civic leadership roles throughout his
life. He served as chairman of the board of the Los Angeles Area Chamber
of Commerce and the Los Angeles Business Advisors. He also served as
director and non-executive chairman of Nationwide Health Properties Inc.
At various times in his career, he was a director of companies including
Air Group, Great Western Financial Corporation, Korn/Ferry
International, Mellon West, Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Company,
Petrolane and Edison International. He remained an active businessman
after retiring from Avery Dennison, owning and operating a variety of
businesses, including real estate investments, the noted restaurant
Koshu, and a wine company in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where he had a home
in addition to his residence in Pasadena.
Miller left an equally deep mark on the communities in which he lived.
From 1995 to 2001, he served as chairman of the board of United Way of
Greater Los Angeles. When the economic downturn hit and community needs
became severe, he and business leader Peter Mullin co-created the
Mullin-Miller Million Dollar Match Fund to encourage giving to United
Way's Creating Pathways out of Poverty plan. He supported a wide range
of medical institutions, including the Operation Walk, which he
personally nurtured from a local into an international organization that
provides total hip and knee replacements for impoverished children and
adults in underdeveloped countries.
An avid supporter of athletics, Miller was one of the first members of
the organizing committee that brought the 1984 Olympic Games to Los
Angeles. After the games, the committee’s surplus funds were used to
establish the Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles, which
continues today as the LA84 Foundation supporting youth sports. He also
played a key role in forming the Los Angeles Sports Council, one of the
nation’s leading civic sports support organizations, and provided
extensive support to the Los Angeles area and national chapters of U.S.
Lacrosse. At the time of his death, he was a member of the executive
board of the Rose Bowl Legacy Campaign for the renovation and
preservation of the Rose Bowl. He was also a member of the advisory
board of the Autry Museum of Western Heritage and a trustee of Southern
California Public Radio.
Miller was also devoted to promoting liberal arts education. He served
as a university trustee and presidential counselor of Johns Hopkins
University, his alma mater. In 2004, he endowed the Charles D. Miller
Professorship in the humanities at the University’s Zanvyl Krieger
School of Arts and Sciences. Consistent with Miller’s belief in Asia’s
pivotal role in a global economy, the inaugural Miller Professor
specializes in East Asian Studies.
He also created the university’s Vision Fund, a scholarship program for
arts and sciences undergraduates and for summer students of the Johns
Hopkins Center for Talented Youth. In 1998, he received the University’s
Heritage Award in recognition of his outstanding service to Johns
Hopkins. Miller also had a long involvement with Occidental College in
Los Angeles, serving as a trustee from 1977 to 1998 and continuing
thereafter as a trustee emeritus. He personally funded its women’s
varsity lacrosse program, which today is a national power.
Miller was born in Hartford, Connecticut on March 1, 1928 and grew up in
Old Greenwich, Connecticut. He is survived by his wife of 29 years,
Carolyn; their two daughters, Amanda Daly Miller and Candice Louise
Miller; three daughters from his previous marriage, Katherine Ann
Miller, Susie Cherrill Otten and Charlotte Juanita Miller; and
grandchildren Laura, David, Eric and John Otten, and Harper, Juliet and
Zander Branch.
Funeral services will be private. A memorial service is planned for
December 12 at 11:00 a.m. at The Langham Huntington, 1401 South Oak
Knoll Avenue, Pasadena, and a memorial website, www.CharlesDMiller.org,
is now live.
Donations in Miller’s memory can be made to:
Charles D. Miller Legacy Fund
United Way of Greater Los Angeles
1150
South Olive Street
Los Angeles, California 90015
UnitedWayLA.org
and
Charles D. Miller Rose Bowl Legacy Fund
505 East Colorado Blvd.,
Suite 201
Pasadena, California 91101
RoseBowlLegacy.org
About Avery Dennison
Avery Dennison (NYSE:AVY) helps make brands more inspiring and the world
more intelligent. For more than 75 years the company has been a global
leader in pressure-sensitive technology and materials, retail branding
and information solutions, and organization and identification products
for offices and consumers. A FORTUNE 500 company with sales of $6.5
billion in 2010, Avery Dennison is based in Pasadena, California and has
employees in over 60 countries. For more information, visit www.averydennison.com.
Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=50088308&lang=en
Source: Avery Dennison Corporation
Avery Dennison Corporation
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david.frail@averydennison.com
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