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Joseph H. Miller, president of the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta, American Association, died July 20 at his home in New Canaan, Conn. He was 73.
He was elected the 10th president of the American Association in 2010. He was invested into the Order of Malta, American Association, in 1994. He was elected to the board of councilors in 2003 and became chancellor the following year.
Mr. Miller participated in 19 pilgrimages to the shrine of Lourdes, France, accompanying the sick and infirm on the annual journey the order sponsors. He served as president of five of the pilgrimages, running on-the-ground operations for the 400-person trip. He and his wife, Barbara, were chairpersons of the Lourdes 150th Anniversary Pilgrimage in 2008.
Howard V. Redgate, chancellor of the Order of Malta, American Association, said, “Joe Miller treasured the Order of Malta and lived his life in an exemplary manner.”
“As importantly, Joe believed that chivalry was the very essence of our civility and Joe was the personification of chivalry,” he said.
In 1991, Mr. Miller founded the New Canaan Group, a financial planning and investment firm.
His professional career was spent principally with AXA/Equitable where he rose to become corporate vice president. He was recognized as a life member of the Million Dollar Round Table and a member of Equitable’s Hall of Fame.
He served as a Eucharistic minister at St. Aloysius Church in New Canaan and at Norwalk Hospital. Devoted to charity work, he served on the boards of the Malta Foundation; Holy Family Hospital in Bethlehem in the Holy Land; Malta House of Good Counsel, of which he was a founder; Malta Prison Ministry; the Inner-City Foundation for Charity and Education; Catholic Charities of Fairfield County and All Saints Catholic School.
He held a bachelor’s degree from Siena College.
He is survived by his wife, Barbara, and his five children, Joseph Miller III, Christopher Miller, Megan Creedon, Beth MacInnes and Allison Lesson.
A Funeral Mass will be offered Thursday, July 28, at 11 a.m., in St. Aloysius Church, New Canaan. A Memorial Mass will be celebrated at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan at a date to be determined.
