Richard McDermott Miller (1912-2005), a New York sculptor whose lifelike nudes have been exhibited internationally and are in private and museum collections around the country. Mr. Miller was born in New Philadelphia, Ohio, studied at the Cleveland Institute of Art in the 1940's, and won a number of prizes for sculptures he modeled in river clay and cast into lead. He also managed a family manufacturing business until he was 40, when he sold his stake in it and headed for New York. His art ran counter to prevailing tastes for the abstract. He worked with live models in wax and clay and had them cast in bronze. The resulting figures, still or shown in motion, could measure from a few inches to more than eight feet tall. His portrait sculpture, too, was naturalistic.With his wife, he wrote "Figure Sculpture in Wax and Plaster" (1987) and other books on his art. He taught sculpture at Queens College, City University of New York, from 1967 to 1992. He was president of the National Academy of Design from 1989 to 1992 and of the National Sculpture Society from 1997 to 2000.

Mr. Spring recalls him as a long term customer, very fastidious in his work, doing a lot of the finishing himself, often using a rake like texture for the surface of his larger bronzes.  He would build amazing armatures for his pieces, almost architectural works of art in themselves. One time while needing a figure for a flying woman sculpture, he had the model harnessed and suspended from the ceiling. Culinary delights were a part of their relationship also, particularly Chinese restaurants.  Mr. Miller could communicate in Chinese with the waiters, and had a special expertise in their "Dim Sum" Hor 'douerves. He also  introduced him to a wide variety of eclectic oriental tea combinations, these being delightful times of conversing.