Jeffery J Miller

Jeffrey J. Miller died peacefully at NWO Hospice on January 24, 2024, after a private battle with ALS. Anyone who knew Jeff, knows that he valued strength and wanted to live the remainder of his life after his diagnosis as normally as possible for himself and his family.

Jeff was born in Toledo, Ohio on April 28, 1967, to his parents Jerry Thomas (Tom) Miller and Nancy S. Miller (Klusek/Duwve). He attended St. Joes Catholic School in Maumee until eighth grade. He then attended Central Catholic High School in Toledo where he thrived in both academics and football and would later get inducted into the Central Catholic HS Football Hall of Fame. He always had his biggest fans, mom Nancy and Stepfather Ray Duwve cheering him on.

He continued his football career playing for the University of Cincinnati for 2 years until he decided to focus his efforts on his Industrial Design passion with the DAAP Program at UC. He had a long successful design career with many of his contributions making it to shelves from his work at Proctor & Gamble (Cincinnati OH), Hasbro (Pawtucket RI) and Fisher Price Toys (East Aurora NY). He spent the end of his career working as an independent Creative Design Director consulting on a number of products and projects, but his primary love was always children’s toys, and he had an incredibly special talent for understanding the joy of play for children.

He married his best friend and soulmate, Cynthia in 1998 and they would go on to have over 25 years of love and adventures. They have two sons together which would always be Jeff’s greatest sources of pride, Adam, and Evan. He was an extremely involved Dad and never missed a game, swim meet or ceremony and always was the creator of magic at holidays and vacations for the family.

They lived in Orchard Park, NY until moving back home to the Midwest in 2015 to be closer to both families.

Jeff was a lover of music, art, antiques, travel, movies, snow skiing, hikes & walks, eating out and spending time with family and close friends. He kept bonds with people he loved from primary school, high school, college, and careers and always treated those groups as if no time had passed. Jeff was creative, loving, generous, witty, and always up for a new adventure, a trip, trying a new restaurant and especially seeing good live music. He loved striking up conversations with anyone and often was the glue that got or kept people together by his ability to find a common thread.

He is survived by his wife Cynthia; children, Adam and Evan; Mom, Nancy; Honorary Father-in-Law, Bill; and many other loving family members. He was preceded in death by his father, Tom; stepfather, Ray; and grandparents, John, Blanche, Jerry, and June.

Visitation will be held at Maison-Dardenne-Walker Funeral Home, 501 Conant St., Maumee, on Monday, January 29, from 4 pm – 7 pm. A mass will be held at St. Joseph Catholic Church, 112 W Broadway St, Maumee, Tuesday, January 30 at 10:30am.