John J Miller

John J Miller passed away April 24, 2025, after a short illness at Crouse Hospital. John was born April 2nd, 1939, in Auburn NY to the late John and Lavena Miller.  John was also predeceased by his brother Donald Miller and sister Maryanne Maland.

John was a graduate of East High School, Auburn Community College and Trine University gaining his bachelor’s in electrical engineering. His work history starts at a very young age delivering papers for the Citizen and then working at Marian-Margaret Soda Fountain when he was at ACC.  When he graduated from ACC he worked as an Analytical Chemist before returning to college in Indiana to obtain his BSEE. As an engineer he worked for General Electric Heavy Military in Syracuse, Northrup Aviation and Hammond Organ in Chicago. He then moved back home and worked at Skan-A-Matic Corp in Elbridge NY and Sarasota, Florida for many years. Upon his return to New York again, he worked at Custom Sensors in Auburn until his retirement in 2003.

John was a very community involved person after retirement. He was a cyclist and was the biker in many Great Race teams. He was president for years for the Run 4 Life non-profit.  He was a photography buff who started taking pictures in his teens and then in later years it gave him a passion he truly loved.

He was known as Uncle Jay to many. He started taking pictures when his nieces Lindsey and Meghan began playing sports at East Middle School in 2006 and it evolved over the years to him covering most sports, marching band, concert orchestra, chorus, plays and dance recitals. Really about anything that occurred in Auburn he was there taking pictures. He was always at the Downtown Mile and the Great Race. Kids would ask him to come to their events, and he loved it. With some graduating athletes, he would go CCC, OCC, Wells, Ithaca and Lemoyne to watch them play and take pictures. For the last few years, he took many senior pictures for future graduates who asked. He always said it gave him a reason to live and to be meaningful. He stopped taking pictures in October of 2023 due to illness. He constantly said he wanted to get back to taking pictures because of the great enjoyment it gave him.

He is survived by his sister Laurie (Charlie) Guzewicz. His nephews and nieces, who were like his own children: Vincent Gleason (Jamie), Don Miller Jr (Amy), Christopher Maland, Jason Maland (Kelley), Lindsey Guzewicz (Brendan), Meghan Guzewicz (Patrick), and Kyle Guzewicz; His great niece and nephews Rubix and Braeden Gleason and his cherished Elizabeth Spencer.

Visitation will be 4-7 pm, April 30th at White Chapel Funeral Home. Funeral services will be May 1st at the funeral home at 11 am with burial after in St Joseph Cemetery.

 Anyone who would like to come visit with the family after services may come to his sister Laurie’s home.  

One of John’s favorite athletes he met over the years was Chloe Calhoun and his heart broke when she passed. John passed with her bracelet on his arm. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in his name to the Chloe Calhoun Scholarship, PO Box 124, Auburn NY, 13021.

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