Gary Miller was born and raised in New Jersey—mostly in Livingston, where he lived until leaving for Dartmouth College in 1966. He attended Dartmouth on a full Navy ROTC scholarship and was commissioned an Ensign upon graduation. He served as a Naval Aviator for twenty years prior to retiring in 1990. While in the Navy, Gary lived in Pensacola, Florida (one year), Virginia Beach, Virginia (fourteen years), Somerset, United Kingdom (two and a half years), and Key West, Florida (one and a half years). Following flight training, he flew helicopters for the majority of his career—mostly ship-based, engaged in helicopter anti-submarine warfare.
While in England, he served with the Royal Navy, flew with the Royal Marines and worked at the Royal Navy Flight Safety Centre. Prince Andrew trained and flew at the same Royal Navy Air Station (Yeovilton). While serving, he received an MBA from Golden Gate University and the Aviation Safety Officer designation from the Navy Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. He completed a Master of Science in Computer Science from RPI while working for the Travelers in its IT Department.
Gary has a Connecticut Teaching Certificate for School Business Administration, under which he worked for nearly twenty-five years in the Connecticut Public Schools. He served as the Business Manager for the Canton Public Schools for thirteen years. He spent the next twelve years consulting with a dozen school districts on school operations plus finance, technology, facility maintenance and school construction, from one of the very smallest districts, Preston, to one of the largest, Waterbury, where he was Chief of Staff.
He has been married to his wife Debbie for forty-eight years. He met Debbie, who lived in South Orange, New Jersey, during his Sophomore year of high school at a church retreat. They met again during his junior year at Dartmouth while Debbie was attending Green Mountain Junior College. The second time stuck. They have two daughters, Gina and Betsy. Gina lives in Pittsford, New York with husband Marc and their three boys. Betsy lives in Baton Rouge, Louisiana with husband Greg and their two children.
In 1991 Gary joined the Canton Lions Club and has continued to be a member. He was invited to join Rotary in 2009 by Phil Worley. Since then he has moved up through all the chairs, including President in 2015-16. Gary currently serves as the Polio Plus Co-Chair on the District Foundation Committee. Shortly after joining Rotary, he assumed the duties of Club Webmaster.
Gary has been a Director of the Farmington Valley Trails Council for many years, helping with trail maintenance, membership, and other committees. He joined the Canton Chamber of Commerce in 2004, became a Director and then President from 2010-2012. Two and a half years ago, Gary became the Executive Director.
For most of his life, Gary has been an avid bicyclist and snow skier. For the past five years, he has been working part-time with the Ski Patrol as a Mountain Host at Ski Sundown.