Frank Justus Miller

Frank Justus Miller (1858-1938) was a leading American classicist, translator, and university administrator in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He authored the Loeb Classical Library translations of Seneca and of Ovid's Metamorphoses, and was president of the American Classical League for more than a decade, from 1922 to 1934.

In addition, Miller served as Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Chicago from 1911 to 1923, and was the first interim president of Shimer College in 1896–1897.

Education and early career

Miller was born on November 26, 1858, in Clinton, Tennessee. His father was a Baptist minister, James W. Miller. He obtained his bachelor's degree from Denison University in 1879, and took up the career of a Latin instructor, teaching at Clinton College for a year while continuing his studies. He completed his master's degree in 1882.

From 1881 to 1887, he served as the vice principal of the Plainfield High School in Plainfield, New Jersey. During this period, on July 10, 1883, he married Lida Willett, who later became a co-founder of the University of Chicago Settlement. After leaving his high school position, Miller worked as a Latin instructor at the Worcester Academy in Worcester, Massachusetts, from 1887 to 1890.

Miller received his Ph.D. at Yale in 1892. His dissertation was on "The Latinity of the Younger Pliny".

University career

While completing his Ph.D. at Yale, Miller became acquainted with William Rainey Harper, then a professor of Semitic languages. Harper left Yale in 1891 to become the first president of the University of Chicago, and subsequently offered Miller a job at the new University of Chicago. Miller accepted the offer, becoming an instructor of Latin and assistant examiner, and worked at the U of C until his retirement. He was remembered as "one of the most versatile and influential" of the members of the original U of C faculty who spent their careers at the university.