George Gerhard Miller, 78, teacher

George Gerhard Miller, 78, of Doylestown, a teacher and headmaster for more than 40 years, died Monday, Sept. 1, of heart disease at his home.

Mr. Miller was a descendant of two signers of the Declaration of Independence - Arthur Middleton and John Rutledge, both of South Carolina.

His great-uncle George S. Gerhard founded Bryn Mawr Hospital. The George S. Gerhard Society, created in 1979, helps raise money for the hospital.

Mr. Miller began his teaching career at the Haverford School in 1962. Over the years, he rose from teacher to chair of the English department and, finally, head of the middle school.

In 1980, he took a job as headmaster of Lawrence Country Day School on Long Island, and from 1986 to 1993 he was director of the American School of Guatemala in Guatemala City.

The following year he was chosen to build the curriculum for a new private school, Shuvatara, in Kathmandu, Nepal. After perestroika, he played a similar role for the first private school in Vladivostok, Russia, followed by two years of teaching at the Island School in Eleuthera, Bahamas.

Mr. Miller was born in Oxford, England, where his family had gone because his father, Philippus Miller, an egyptologist at the University of Pennsylvania, was invited to teach and study at Oxford University. The family remained there through World War II.

In 1948, the Millers returned to the United States. Mr. Miller attended the Haverford School. He transferred to St. George's School, Newport, R.I., and graduated in 1955.

He enrolled in the University of Pennsylvania, and after his junior year married Mary Richardson Buck of Ellicott City, Md. Upon graduating, Mr. Miller received the John Border Scholarship from the First Troop Philadelphia City Cavalry, one of the oldest mounted military units in the country. He chose to study in Aix-en-Provence, France, for a year.

He worked for two years at Yarnall, Biddle & Co., an investment firm in Philadelphia, before embarking on a teaching career, his family said.

"His passion for teaching came from his passion for reading and poetry, and his boundless energy," said his son, Alexander Coxe Miller. "He had a knack for it

A longtime member of the Orpheus Club of Philadelphia and the Merion Cricket Club, Mr. Miller was known for his skill on the stage, tennis and squash courts, and for his expert cricket pitches.

Surviving, besides his son, are another son, George G. Jr.; daughters Elise Miller Barnett and Cassandra Carroll Miller; four grandchildren, and a sister. A brother died in 2013.

Mr. Miller and his wife were divorced in 2000. She survives.

A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 20, at Washington Memorial Chapel, Route 23, Valley Forge. A reception will follow the service. Burial is private.

Donations may be made to UNESCO via www.unesco.org/donate/.