A. Pickens Miller Jr., age 50, passed away Friday, July 23, 2010 at his residence in Chapel Hill, N.C. Mr. Miller was born January 28, 1960 in Charlottesville, Va., and raised among the Blue Ridge Mountains in Abingdon, Va. and later in Richmond. He attended public schools in Henrico County, Va. and also the Collegiate School, and later Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa, N.C. Pickens lived in Baltimore, Md., at Gould Farm in Monterey, Mass. and in Waltham, Mass. before moving to Chapel Hill in 1996.
Among his many gifts, Pickens will be remembered for his boundless intellectual capacity, love of music ranging from rock-and-roll to classical, his commitment to the environment and an extraordinary generosity of spirit. He was a democrat with both a capital and small “d,†believing fiercely that no individual was more important than any other. He inspired his many friends through his literary and social service projects.
Pickens leaves a wide circle of friends and family to cherish his memory, including his mother and stepfather, Doris and Michael Hobbs, of Sydney, Australia; his father and stepmother, Andrew P. Miller and Penny Farthing of Washington, D.C.; three sisters, Julia Adeney Thomas of Chicago, Ill., Elise Miller of Freeland, Wash. and Lucia Miller of Washington, D.C.; a brother, Winfield Miller of Washington, D.C.; and a son, Zachery, living in Michigan.
A memorial service will be held at Shared Visions Retreat Center, located in the historic Murphey School, 3717 Murphey School Road, Durham, N.C. 27705 on Saturday, Aug. 7 at 2:00 p.m. A family internment service will be held Sunday, Aug. 15 at Stonewall Jackson Cemetery in Lexington, Va. In lieu of flowers, please consider donations to Gould Farm, PO Box 157, Monterey, MA 01245-0157, or Club Nova, 103D West Main Street, Carrboro, NC 27510. Condolences may be shared at cremationsocietync.com