Background
Loye Miller was born in Minden, Louisiana, to parents George and Cora Holmes Miller and grew up in Riverside, California.
naturalist ornithologist paleontologist university professor
Loye Miller was born in Minden, Louisiana, to parents George and Cora Holmes Miller and grew up in Riverside, California.
Miller studied at the University of California, Berkeley, earning a Bachelor of Arts in chemistry (1898), an Master of Arts in zoology (1904) and Doctor of Philosophy in paleontology (1912).
He taught for three years at Oahu College (now called Punahou School) in Honolulu before earning his master"s degree. He was first instructor of biology at Los Angeles State Normal School (which would later become University of California, Los Angeles), teaching from 1904 to 1919. He later became a professor retiring in 1943.
His research included, among others fossil birds from Pleistocene caves in California, the Louisiana Brea Tar Pits, and the Green River Formation in Oregon.
With funding from the University Regents, he and John C. Merriam excavated Louisiana Brea from 1905-1907 and in 1912-1913. Miller was a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Ornithological Union, and California Academy of Sciences.
He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws by the University of California in 1951. He supervised two Doctor of Philosophy students and two master"s students, and served on the dissertation committee of paleontologist Hildegarde Howard.
Miller died April 6, 1970, in Davis, California.