John A. Miller, former insurance executive

John A. Miller, 85, of Bryn Mawr, who retired in the early 1990s as chief executive officer of the former Provident Mutual Life Insurance Co., died of congestive heart failure Sunday, July 15, at Beaumont at Bryn Mawr, the retirement community where he had lived since moving from Villanova in the early 2000s.

Mr. Miller joined Provident in 1972 as agency vice president and became president in 1978, and in the 1980s was both CEO and chairman of the board, son John J. said in an interview.

Born in Wilkes-Barre, Mr. Miller graduated from Meyers High School there in 1944 and served in the Marine Corps until World War II ended.

He earned a bachelor's degree in economics at Columbia University and studied at the School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University before beginning his career by selling Fuller brushes in Newington, Conn.

After working in Seattle for what is now Aetna Life Insurance Co., Mr. Miller in 1958 began a 14-year career with what is now the Life Insurance Marketing and Research Association in West Hartford, Conn., leaving as senior vice president to join Provident.

His son said Mr. Miller was a member of the board of directors of Liberty Property Trust, Guarantee Reassurance Corp., CoreStates Financial Corp., and other companies.

Outside his profession, Mr. Miller was a member of the committee that helped fund construction of the National Constitution Center.

He was a board member of Bryn Mawr Hospital, St. Joseph's University, and other entities, and a member of the Merion Cricket Club and the Overbrook Country Club.

Besides his son, Mr. Miller is survived by another son, Jeffrey; daughters Cynthia M. Hibbert and Kristen M. Munnelly; 18 grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren. His wife, Midge, died in 2009.

A visitation was set from 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, July 18, at Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church, 625 Montgomery Ave., before an 11 a.m. memorial service there.