Jean-Claude Bajeux, Haitian activist and scholar, died from lung cancer he was , 79.

Jean-Claude Bajeux  was a Haitian political activist and professor of Caribbean literature. For many years he was director of the Ecumenical Center for Human Rights based in Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, and a leader of the National Congress of Democratic Movements, a moderate socialist political party also known as KONAKOM. He was Minister of Culture during Jean-Bertrand Aristide's first term as President of Haiti.
In 1993 The New York Times called him "Haiti's leading human rights campaigner".^[1] In 1996 the paper called him "one of the country's leading intellectuals".^[2] In 2004 the St. Petersburg Times called him "Haiti's most respected human rights activist"^.


(17 September 1931 – 5 August 2011)

Early life and career

Bajeux was born in Port-au-Prince on 17 September 1931. He completed secondary school at Collège Saint-Martial in Port-au-Prince. After this he studied philosophy and theology under the Holy Ghost Fathers in France. During his time in France, the University of Bordeaux awarded him a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy.^[4] He began his career as a Roman Catholic priest, a Jesuit^[5] and member of the Holy Ghost Fathers, though he later left the priesthood.^[6]
In 1956 Bajeux moved to Cameroon, where he taught philosophy and served as editor-in-chief of a pro-independence magazine. Cameroon became independent in 1960. In 1961 Bajeux returned to Port-au-Prince and began teaching philosophy at Collège Saint-Martial. He also edited the journal Rond-Point and headed the Children's Library.^[4]

First exile

In 1964 Haiti's dictator Papa Doc Duvalier expelled the Jesuit order from the country. Bajeux asked his fellow priests to sign a letter of protest.^[4] His bishop reported him to the government, and Duvalier expelled Bajeux. He settled in Santo Domingo, the capital city of the Dominican Republic, where he began ministering to other Haitian exiles. Later that year,^[6] Duvalier's Tonton Macoutes militia kidnapped Bajeux's mother, his two sisters, and two of his brothers from their home in the middle of the night.^[7] They all later died in the Fort Dimanche prison,^[8] which The Miami Herald described as "the regime's most infamous hellhole".^[9]
Following his time in Santo Domingo, Bajeux traveled to Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico, where he spent one year editing a collection of documents about the history of Latin America. In 1967 he became a professor of comparative literature and Caribbean literature at the University of Puerto Rico in San Juan, a position he held until 1992.^[4] During his years in San Juan he taught literature and religion at the university and gained prominence writing about Haiti.^[10]
In 1977 he earned a PhD in Romance languages and literatures from Princeton University,^[5] where he was Assistant Master of Princeton Inn College,^[11] later known as Forbes College.^[12] His dissertation concerned black Caribbean poetry.^[4] Bajeux's wife Sylvie is a 1979 graduate alumna of Princeton^[13] and also a relative of some of the 13 Jeune Haiti rebels.^[14]
During his years in exile, Bajeux remained active struggling for human rights in Haiti. The World Council of Churches helped him found the Ecumenical Center for Human Rights in Santo Domingo in 1979.^[4] He was an early supporter of Leslie Manigat's efforts to oust the Duvalier regime but came to believe Manigat was too interested in acquiring power.^[15] He also joined a group based in the Dominican Republic planning guerrilla attacks against the Duvalier regime.^[5]

Political activity in Haiti

Bajeux returned to Haiti in early 1986, becoming one of the first exiles to return days after Duvalier's son Baby Doc fled the country.^[6][5] On his arrival he was arrested, then released, and then briefly arrested again.^[5] He recounted to The New Yorker that he had to reclaim his family's house from Macoutes who said Duvalier's lieutenant Madame Max Adolphe had given it to them.^[6] In July of that year he brought the ECHR to Port-au-Prince.^[16] He also began his affiliation with KONAKOM,^[14] a moderate socialist political party,^[17] eventually rising to become a central figure in the party by 1989.^[6]
The years following the ouster of Duvalier were tumultuous.^[5] Bajeux spent them active in politics. He participated in the debate surrounding the adoption of the Constitution of Haiti in 1987.^[14] He organized demonstrations against military rule by Henri Namphy^[18] and against the return to Haiti of Williams Régala and Roger Lafontant, former interior ministers under Duvalier.^[19] Bajeux became a supporter of Aristide's pro-democracy movement. Aristide was elected in 1990 but forced into exile in a military coup the following year. At first Bajeux remained in Haiti, continuing his human rights advocacy^[5] and publishing the first bilingual (French and Creole) edition of his country's Constitution.^[4] However, in October 1993, armed men attacked his home, beat his domestic workers, and shot another man. Bajeux was not home at the time.^[1] He blamed the Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haïti (FRAPH), a death squad backed by the army that targeted Aristide supporters. Following this incident, Bajeux fled Haiti with his wife.^[20]
Aristide was returned to power in October 1994 in the United States-led Operation Uphold Democracy.^[21] Later that year Bajeux was appointed culture minister under Aristide. In this office he promoted the "Haitianization" of the national culture at the expense of French elements,^[22] a course he had advocated as early as 1986.^[10] However, he later turned against Aristide, joining an opposition movement calling for him to leave the country during his second term as president.^[5]
In 1997 Bajeux published a collection of poems, and in 1999 he published a bilingual (French and Creole) anthology of Creole literature. In his later years he also remained active politically.^[4] His friend Michael Deibert recalled him marching in demonstrations in his old age despite physical danger.^[23] In 2002 he received the Human Rights Prize of the French Republic.^[4] In 2009 President René Préval appointed him to a presidential commission to consider amending the constitution.^[14][24]
Bajeux died 5 August 2011 at his home Port-au-Prince. He was 79. The cause was lung cancer.^[5]

Statements about relations with the United States

Bajeux was outspoken about relations with the United States. In 1981, while in exile in San Juan, he criticized President Ronald Reagan's order that the U.S. Coast Guard repel ships suspected of carrying illegal immigrants from Haiti.^[25] After returning to Haiti in 1986 he opposed the Reagan administration's plan to industrialize Haiti's heavily agrarian economy.^[10] As violence was breaking out again in 1989 he advocated for the U.S. military to crack down on the marauding Macoutes.^[6] In 1992 he described President George H. W. Bush's plan to return all Haitian refugees in the U.S. to Haiti as "beyond all the laws of humanity".^[26] During Bill Clinton's presidential transition following his election in 1992, Bajeux praised Clinton's efforts to aide Aristide's return,^[27] and in 1996 he accused Republicans of using problems in Haiti to embarrass Clinton, who was then running for reelection.^[2]

Works

• Textures (1997) – book of poetry^[4]
• Mosochwazi Pawòl ki ekri an Kreyól Ayisyen/Anthologie de la Littérature Créole Haïtienne (1999) – bilingual anthology of Creole literature^[4][28]

 

To see more of who died in 2011 click here

James M. Flinchum, American journalist died he was , 94.

James Maxwell Flinchum, Jr. , known as Jim Flinchum, was from 1961 until his retirement in 1985 the editor-in-chief of the Wyoming State Tribune, one of two forerunners of the existing Wyoming Tribune Eagle in Cheyenne, Wyoming died he was , 94..

(November 5, 1916 – August 2, 2011)

Early years

Flinchum was born in Caddo in Bryan County in southern Oklahoma. In 1939, Flinchum obtained a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma at Norman. For two years he was the editor of The Norman Transcript prior to joining the United Press wire service. During World War II, he was through 1945 a United States Army platoon leader and officer in the Pacific theater based in the Philippines. He won the Bronze Star. After the war, Flinchum returned to United Press, where he was based first in Little Rock, Arkansas. Thereafter, he was stationed in Denver, Colorado and Dallas and Houston, Texas.^[1]

Journalist in Cheyenne

Considered a demanding journalist with an encyclopedic knowledge of public affairs, Flinchum pushed his reporters to excel and rejected incomplete stories. He had difficulty when the newsroom was converted from typewriters to computers but persisted with hard-hitting editorials for the Wyoming State Tribune.^[2]
A Republican, Flinchum stayed active in local politics after his retirement from the Tribune Eagle through the interest group, Citizens Opposing Spendthrift Taxation. Jack Quirk of Cheyenne, the president of the group, said that he and Flinchum talked weekly even as the former editor lost his eyesight.^[2]
Jim Angell, executive director of the Wyoming Press Association and a former reporter for the Associated Press, describes Flinchum as "fair" in his editing and writing. Angell refers to Flinchum as an old-school journalist who stressed the facts and accurate reporting: "He was a legend in the community."^[2]
Flinchum was active in the YMCA and Rotary International.^[1] In 1971, he wrote a short article in Field and Stream magazine highlighting the many fishing waters of Wyoming.^[3]

Death

Flinchum died in Cheyenne at the age of ninety-four. He was survived by his wife, the former Nancy Reynolds of Cheyenne, whom he married in 1948, and two daughters, Nancy Prosser and her husband, Edward Riner Prosser, of Cheyenne, a Republican former member of the Wyoming House of Representatives, and Suzy Deger and her husband, Tim, of Franktown, Colorado; two grandchildren, Jackie Parker and husband, Todd, of Colbert, Georgia and Brent Prosser and wife, Dana, of Grand Junction, Colorado, and five great-grandchildren.^[1]
Graveside services were held on August 6 at Lakeview Cemetery in Cheyenne.^[1]

 

To see more of who died in 2011 click here

Al Federoff, American baseball player (Detroit Tigers) died he was , 87.

Alfred Federoff , nicknamed "Whitey," was an American professional baseball infielder and manager died he was , 87.. He spent his career in minor league baseball, except for 76 games spread over the 1951 and 1952 seasons, when he was a member of the Detroit Tigers of Major League Baseball.



(July 11, 1924 – August 2, 2011)

Federoff graduated from high school in Etna, Pennsylvania, and attended Duquesne University for two years.^[3] He threw and batted right-handed, stood 5 feet 11 inches (1.8 m) tall and weighed 165 pounds (75 kg) as an active player. His playing career extended from 1946 through 1959, with another decade spent as a minor league manager (1960–61; 1963–70). Most of his career was spent with the Tigers: he signed with Detroit in 1946, played for seven seasons in their farm system, and then managed in that system for nine more years during the 1960s. As a skipper, his teams won two league championships. He was a Tigers' scout in 1962.
For the MLB Tigers in 1951–52, Federoff played 71 games as a second baseman and batted .238 in 235 at bats, with no home runs and 14 runs batted in. He was a .279 hitter during his minor league career, where he saw service with the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens, Buffalo Bisons and Louisville Colonels, and the Open Classification San Diego Padres and Seattle Rainiers.^[4]

 

To see more of who died in 2011 click here

DeLois Barrett Campbell, American gospel singer (The Barrett Sisters), died from pulmonary embolism she was , 85.

Delois Barrett Campbell

(March 12, 1926 – August 2, 2011)

 Delois Barrett Campbell , began her career as the lead singer of the world famous Roberta Martin Singers while still in high school. As a member of Roberta Martin Singers, DeLois traveled around the United States and the world singing for the Lord, but she soon placed her career on hold to started her family. DeLois became a mother and a pastor's wife.

Recent years

DeLois Barrett Campbell died August 2, 2011. She was 85.^[2] She had been wheelchair bound for years. In late 2009, she lost her voice and could not sing anymore but she was still present during some of the concerts with a microphone in her hand. She had battled arthritis and other health issues.^[3] The other sisters are still performing, recording, and serving the Lord. Their most recent release is on I AM Records and is entitled "What A Wonderful World." DeLois had her last annual birthday concert celebration at First Church of Deliverance in Chicago, that included performances with her sisters Billie and Rodessa.

The Barrett Sisters are an American award-winning gospel trio from Chicago, Illinois. The trio consisted of sisters DeLois Barrett Campbell, Billie Barrett GreenBey and Rodessa Barrett Porter. They have been singing together for more than 40 years.

History

The Barrett Sisters grew up in poverty in Chicago, Illinois. They had seven siblings. Four of their siblings died from tuberculosis.^[1] They were raised by strict spiritual parents. They were not allowed to listen to blues music. In 1930s, the three sisters began singing gospel with their cousin, and their vocal coach was their aunt Mattie Dacus. Like many of their cohorts, they thought that the only hope for a music career; they would have to enter into the secular world. But The Barrett Sisters knew that would deeply hurt their parents, who believed that secular music had no place in the lives of the saved.
In the mid-1960s, the sisters regrouped to record their first album on the Savoy Records, "Jesus Loves Me," on which they recorded Sam Cooke's "Wonderful". They followed with "I'll Fly Away" and "Carry Me Back" where they were joined with Roberta Martin on "I Hear God". Ms. Martin sang lead on the title track. Since then, The Barrett Sisters have become one of the world famous female gospel groups. They have performed at countless churches and in many respected concert halls including the Lincoln Center in NYC, Constitution Hall in Washington, DC, Orchestra Hall in Chicago, and Theatre-DeVille in Paris, France. The Barrett Sisters have toured internationally over thirty times. In the 70's they recorded two albums for Nashboro's subsidiary label Creed: "God So Loved The World" and "Coming Again So Soon". Ms. Campbell followed with a solo album also on Creed called "Through It All".
The Barrett Sisters represented the United States in Africa, as Goodwill Ambassadors of 1983, and in the South Pacific for six week in 1987. They have also performed for several notable leaders including the King of Sweden and the President of Zaire, Africa. The Barrett Sisters are associated with numerous celebrities and big names in entertainment including the late Queen of Gospel Albertina Walker, Thomas A. Dorsey (National Singers Convention), Rev. James Cleveland, Andre Crouch, The Mighty Clouds of Joy, Shirley Caesar, The Winans, Willie Mae Ford Smith and Patti LaBelle.

Radio, television, and film

The Barrett Sisters made their first appearance on radio and television in the 1960s. They have appeared on "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson," "The Oprah Winfrey Show,""Bobby Jones Show," "Living the Dream," a television tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, PBS special "Going Home to Gospel with Patti LaBelle," along with Gospel Queen Albertina Walker, and the "PTL Club." They've been featured several times on the locally produced Emmy Award winning "Jubilee Showcase." They have appeared on The Stellar Awards, which included accepting 2009 Walgreens' Ambassador Bobby Jones Legend Award.
In 1982, The Barrett Sisters were featured in the critically acclaimed documentary "Say Amen, Somebody," which features Willie Mae Ford Smith, Sallie Martin, Thomas A. Dorsey, The O'Neal Twins, and Zella Jackson Price. They were also featured on the soundtrack.

To see more of who died in 2011 click here

Ralph Berkowitz, American composer died he was , 100.

Ralph Berkowitz  was an American composer, classical musician, and painter.

(September 5, 1910 – August 2, 2011)

Biography

Berkowitz was born in Brooklyn, New York to a Romanian Jewish couple, Matilda and William Berkowitz who had emigrated from Roman and Bucharest. His father was instrumental in shaping young Ralph's musical culture and experience.^[3] In 1927, he enrolled at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia where he later became a member of the teaching staff.^[4] In 1940, he became accompanist for Gregor Piatigorsky, with whom he appeared until the cellist's death in 1976. Other musical partners included the tenor Jan Peerce, cellist Felix Salmond, and violinist and composer George Enescu. He recorded extensively with Piatigorsky and others, including the violinist Eudice Shapiro.
From 1946 to 1951, Berkowitz served as an executive assistant to Serge Koussevitzky at Tanglewood and later became Dean of the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood in 1951, a position he held until 1961. As Dean, he presided over a faculty that included Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein, and many others. Illustrious students in those years included Zubin Mehta, Lorin Maazel and Claudio Abbado. He, along with Boston Symphony manager Todd Perry, was largely instrumental in keeping the Tanglewood Festival alive following Koussevitsky's death.
Berkowitz has been widely published as an arranger and composer. His A Telephone Call, for singer and orchestra is his most extended work.
In 1961 Berkowitz moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he lived until his death in 2011. He first came to Albuquerque in 1940 to serve as a guest artist with a chamber music series called The June Music Festival. He remained active as an artist for the Festival into the 1980s. Berkowitz became manager of the then Albuquerque Civic Orchestra (now New Mexico Symphony Orchestra) when he moved to New Mexico and served until 1968, seeing the Orchestra through its move to its current home—Popejoy Hall at the University of New Mexico.
Berkowitz commissioned Daron Hagen to compose one of his most intellectually rigorous works, a set of Piano Variations based on a theme made up of pitches derived from Berkowitz's and Hagen's names, in 2002. The work is available from Carl Fischer. Berkowitz reached his centenary in September 2010^[5] and died in August of the following year.

Discography

• "RCA Red Seal Century - Soloists & Conductors", 2 CD / RCA Records / 2001-10-23
• "Stravinsky: Petroushka Suite; Toch: Violin Sonata", 1 CD / Crystal Records / 1998-01-02 ^[6]

 

To see more of who died in 2011 click here

Baruj Benacerraf, Venezuelan-born American immunologist, Nobel laureate (1980) died he was , 90.

Clarence Ellsworth Miller, Jr. was a Republican Congressman from Ohio, serving January 3, 1967 to January 3, 1993 died from pneumonia he was , 93..
He was born in Lancaster, Ohio, one of six children of an electrician father. After graduating from high school, he enrolled in correspondence school and became a certified electrical engineer. He worked for Columbia Gas and held patents related to the pumping of gas.^[1]
Miller was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1966 to represent a section of southeastern Ohio where, in Lancaster, he had served as mayor. During the Persian Gulf War, he was reportedly the only member of Congress who had a grandson (Drew Miller, of Lancaster, Ohio) fighting in that conflict.^[1]
By training, he was an engineer, and the Almanac of American Politics wrote that Mr. Miller approached politics with the "precise and orderly manner" that one might expect from someone of his profession.

(November 1, 1917 – August 2, 2011)

US Patents

U.S. Patent 3,088,655, Filed August 1, 1960, Patented May 7, 1963 "Remote Control and Alarm System For A Compressor Station and Compressor Engines Thereof"
U.S. Patent 3,210,582, Filed July 26. 1960, Patented Oct. 5, 1965 "Magneto Having Auxiliary Pole Piece"

Elections

In 1966, the Tenth Congressional District elected Miller to the Ninetieth Congress, defeating incumbent Democrat Walter H. Moeller, and he was re-elected to twelve succeeding Congresses.
Miller was a 13-term Ohio Republican nicknamed "Five Percent Clarence" for his persistent efforts to cut spending bills by that amount. He did not cultivate publicity, preferring instead to focus on legislation more than on the Washington talk-show circuit. He was known for his near-perfect attendance on votes no matter how minute. In 1990, the Capitol Hill publication Roll Call named Mr. Miller the "most obscure" member of Congress. It was intended as a compliment, considering that grandstanders never would have received such an honor. A fiscal conservative, he served on the House Appropriations Committee. The numerous bills he introduced, often unsuccessfully, aimed to cut spending measures—if not by the 5 percent figure in his nickname, then at least by 2 percent. In 1977, he succeeded in persuading House colleagues to cut foreign aid by 5 percent.^[1]
He lost his bid for reelection in the 1992 primary after redistricting. ^[1]

Elections by landslide

In his younger years.

Twelve of the thirteen elections won by Mr. Miller were by a margin of victory of greater than 25%.

Heated 1992 primary

Ohio lost two seats in the 1990 reapportionment. The Democrats and Republicans in the Ohio General Assembly struck a deal to eliminate one Democratic and one Republican district, as one congressman from each party was expected to retire. The Republican expected to retire was Miller, but he announced he would run again. The Democrats in the Statehouse would not reconsider the deal and so Miller's Tenth District was obliterated. (The new Tenth was in Cuyahoga County.)
The new district map was not agreed upon by the General Assembly until March 26, 1992, one week before the filing deadline for the primary originally scheduled for May 5. (Governor George Voinovich signed the new map into law on March 27, and the General Assembly moved the primary to June 2 on April 1.) Miller's own hometown was placed in freshman David Hobson's Seventh District, but Miller chose to run in the Sixth District against Bob McEwen; only one of the twelve counties in Miller's old Tenth District was in the new Seventh but the largest piece of his old district, five counties, was placed in the new Sixth. Miller also had a strong distaste for McEwen, a Hillsboro Republican in his sixth term who had been elected to Congress at age thirty.
Despite being hurt in a fall in his bathtub after slipping on a bar of soap, an injury that led Republicans to expect his withdrawal, Miller stayed in the race. A deal was hoped for as late as May 15, the day Miller was scheduled to hold a press conference Ohio political observers thought he would use to announce his withdrawal, but Miller stayed in the race and the two incumbents faced each other in the Republican primary on June 2, 1992.
McEwen, who Congressional Quarterly's Politics in America pronounced "invincible", was caught up in the House banking scandal, which had been seized upon by Newt Gingrich, a like-minded conservative House Republican, as an example of the corruption of Congress. Martin Gottlieb of the Dayton Daily News said "McEwen was collateral damage" to Gingrich's crusade. McEwen initially denied bouncing any checks. Later, he admitted he had bounced a few. Then when the full totals were released by Ethics Committee investigators, the number was revealed to have been 166 over thirty-nine months. McEwen said that he always had funds available to cover the alleged overdrafts, pointing to the policy of the House sergeant at arms, who ran the House bank, paying checks on an overdrawn account if it would not exceed the sum of the Representative's next paycheck. In 1991, McEwen had also been criticized for his use of the franking privilege and his frequent trips overseas at taxpayer expense, but McEwen defended the trips as part of his work on the Intelligence Committee and in building relationships with legislatures overseas.
The primary race was bitter. Miller called McEwen "Pinocchio" and McEwen said of Miller "his misrepresentations and falsehoods are gargantuan. I tried to be his best friend in the delegation. I am deeply disappointed at the meanness of his effort." Tom Deimer of Cleveland's Plain Dealer wrote that the two candidates were largely identical on the issues: "both are textbook Republican conservatives, opposed to abortion, gun control, high taxes, and costly government programs — unless located in their districts." Miller noted he had no overdrafts, saying, "the score is 166 to nothing" referring to the number of checks McEwen bounced in the House banking scandal.
The 1992 primary was so close it forced a recount and a lawsuit. When Ohio Secretary of State Bob Taft dismissed Miller's charges of voting irregularities in Highland, Hocking, and Warren Counties, Miller filed suit in the Ohio Supreme Court. Only in August did Miller drop his court challenge and then only because his campaign was out of money. In the final count, McEwen won 33,219 votes to Miller's 32,922, a plurality of only 297 votes. Ominously for November, each had won the counties they had formerly represented, McEwen making little headway in the new eastern counties in the district. After the final result, Miller refused to endorse McEwen and carried an unsuccessful legal challenge to the redistricting to the United States Supreme Court, insisting district lines should be drawn on a politically neutral basis. After the primary, McEwen introduced H. R. 5727 in the House to name the locks on the Ohio near Gallipolis after Miller, but the bill did not pass.^[2] McEwen subsequently lost the general election that year to Ted Strickland.

Family

His wife of 51 years, the former Helen Brown, died in 1987. The couple had two children, Ronald K. Miller of Lancaster and Jacqueline M. Williams of Cincinnati; five grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren.^[1]

Death

Clarence Miller returned to Lancaster, where he resided at the time of his death on August 2, 2011, aged 93.

 

To see more of who died in 2011 click here

Clarence E. Miller, American politician, U.S. Representative from Ohio (1967–1993), died from pneumonia he was , 93.

Clarence Ellsworth Miller, Jr. was a Republican Congressman from Ohio, serving January 3, 1967 to January 3, 1993 died from pneumonia he was , 93..
He was born in Lancaster, Ohio, one of six children of an electrician father. After graduating from high school, he enrolled in correspondence school and became a certified electrical engineer. He worked for Columbia Gas and held patents related to the pumping of gas.^[1]
Miller was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1966 to represent a section of southeastern Ohio where, in Lancaster, he had served as mayor. During the Persian Gulf War, he was reportedly the only member of Congress who had a grandson (Drew Miller, of Lancaster, Ohio) fighting in that conflict.^[1]
By training, he was an engineer, and the Almanac of American Politics wrote that Mr. Miller approached politics with the "precise and orderly manner" that one might expect from someone of his profession.

(November 1, 1917 – August 2, 2011)

US Patents

U.S. Patent 3,088,655, Filed August 1, 1960, Patented May 7, 1963 "Remote Control and Alarm System For A Compressor Station and Compressor Engines Thereof"
U.S. Patent 3,210,582, Filed July 26. 1960, Patented Oct. 5, 1965 "Magneto Having Auxiliary Pole Piece"

Elections

In 1966, the Tenth Congressional District elected Miller to the Ninetieth Congress, defeating incumbent Democrat Walter H. Moeller, and he was re-elected to twelve succeeding Congresses.
Miller was a 13-term Ohio Republican nicknamed "Five Percent Clarence" for his persistent efforts to cut spending bills by that amount. He did not cultivate publicity, preferring instead to focus on legislation more than on the Washington talk-show circuit. He was known for his near-perfect attendance on votes no matter how minute. In 1990, the Capitol Hill publication Roll Call named Mr. Miller the "most obscure" member of Congress. It was intended as a compliment, considering that grandstanders never would have received such an honor. A fiscal conservative, he served on the House Appropriations Committee. The numerous bills he introduced, often unsuccessfully, aimed to cut spending measures—if not by the 5 percent figure in his nickname, then at least by 2 percent. In 1977, he succeeded in persuading House colleagues to cut foreign aid by 5 percent.^[1]
He lost his bid for reelection in the 1992 primary after redistricting. ^[1]

Elections by landslide

In his younger years.

Twelve of the thirteen elections won by Mr. Miller were by a margin of victory of greater than 25%.

Heated 1992 primary

Ohio lost two seats in the 1990 reapportionment. The Democrats and Republicans in the Ohio General Assembly struck a deal to eliminate one Democratic and one Republican district, as one congressman from each party was expected to retire. The Republican expected to retire was Miller, but he announced he would run again. The Democrats in the Statehouse would not reconsider the deal and so Miller's Tenth District was obliterated. (The new Tenth was in Cuyahoga County.)
The new district map was not agreed upon by the General Assembly until March 26, 1992, one week before the filing deadline for the primary originally scheduled for May 5. (Governor George Voinovich signed the new map into law on March 27, and the General Assembly moved the primary to June 2 on April 1.) Miller's own hometown was placed in freshman David Hobson's Seventh District, but Miller chose to run in the Sixth District against Bob McEwen; only one of the twelve counties in Miller's old Tenth District was in the new Seventh but the largest piece of his old district, five counties, was placed in the new Sixth. Miller also had a strong distaste for McEwen, a Hillsboro Republican in his sixth term who had been elected to Congress at age thirty.
Despite being hurt in a fall in his bathtub after slipping on a bar of soap, an injury that led Republicans to expect his withdrawal, Miller stayed in the race. A deal was hoped for as late as May 15, the day Miller was scheduled to hold a press conference Ohio political observers thought he would use to announce his withdrawal, but Miller stayed in the race and the two incumbents faced each other in the Republican primary on June 2, 1992.
McEwen, who Congressional Quarterly's Politics in America pronounced "invincible", was caught up in the House banking scandal, which had been seized upon by Newt Gingrich, a like-minded conservative House Republican, as an example of the corruption of Congress. Martin Gottlieb of the Dayton Daily News said "McEwen was collateral damage" to Gingrich's crusade. McEwen initially denied bouncing any checks. Later, he admitted he had bounced a few. Then when the full totals were released by Ethics Committee investigators, the number was revealed to have been 166 over thirty-nine months. McEwen said that he always had funds available to cover the alleged overdrafts, pointing to the policy of the House sergeant at arms, who ran the House bank, paying checks on an overdrawn account if it would not exceed the sum of the Representative's next paycheck. In 1991, McEwen had also been criticized for his use of the franking privilege and his frequent trips overseas at taxpayer expense, but McEwen defended the trips as part of his work on the Intelligence Committee and in building relationships with legislatures overseas.
The primary race was bitter. Miller called McEwen "Pinocchio" and McEwen said of Miller "his misrepresentations and falsehoods are gargantuan. I tried to be his best friend in the delegation. I am deeply disappointed at the meanness of his effort." Tom Deimer of Cleveland's Plain Dealer wrote that the two candidates were largely identical on the issues: "both are textbook Republican conservatives, opposed to abortion, gun control, high taxes, and costly government programs — unless located in their districts." Miller noted he had no overdrafts, saying, "the score is 166 to nothing" referring to the number of checks McEwen bounced in the House banking scandal.
The 1992 primary was so close it forced a recount and a lawsuit. When Ohio Secretary of State Bob Taft dismissed Miller's charges of voting irregularities in Highland, Hocking, and Warren Counties, Miller filed suit in the Ohio Supreme Court. Only in August did Miller drop his court challenge and then only because his campaign was out of money. In the final count, McEwen won 33,219 votes to Miller's 32,922, a plurality of only 297 votes. Ominously for November, each had won the counties they had formerly represented, McEwen making little headway in the new eastern counties in the district. After the final result, Miller refused to endorse McEwen and carried an unsuccessful legal challenge to the redistricting to the United States Supreme Court, insisting district lines should be drawn on a politically neutral basis. After the primary, McEwen introduced H. R. 5727 in the House to name the locks on the Ohio near Gallipolis after Miller, but the bill did not pass.^[2] McEwen subsequently lost the general election that year to Ted Strickland.

Family

His wife of 51 years, the former Helen Brown, died in 1987. The couple had two children, Ronald K. Miller of Lancaster and Jacqueline M. Williams of Cincinnati; five grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren.^[1]

Death

Clarence Miller returned to Lancaster, where he resided at the time of his death on August 2, 2011, aged 93.

 

To see more of who died in 2011 click here