Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Inc. (TDI) is saddened to learn a former Board member and officer, Dr. Roy E. Miller passed away on Thursday, March 12 in Albuquerque, NM. His partner Carol Sliney (also a former TDI Board member (1995-2013), and family were with him during his passing. He was 80 years old and battled with esophageal cancer. His tenure as President was the longest of any person to hold the position in TDI’s 52-year history.

Jan Withers, current TDI Board President, send her condolences stating, “The TDI Board of Directors extends its deepest sympathy to Dr. Miller’s partner Carol, and his family on his passing. We salute Dr. Miller for his many years of dedicated service and contributions, especially with shaping TDI into a leading national consumer advocacy organization.”
Claude Stout, Executive Director, TDI shared, “We deeply mourn the loss of Dr. Miller, and are fortunate to have worked with such a wonderful person who strongly believed in the promise and potential of TDI as an advocacy force for the nation’s deaf and hard of hearing community in Washington, D.C. We will continue our important mission, following the ideals that he set during his Board time at TDI.”
Dr. Miller received his Ph.D. degree in Political Science from the University of Illinois in 1971. In 1972 he learned he had Neurofibromatosis, Type-II (NF-2), and he had an acoustic neuroma removed from his right-side hearing nerve, which left him deaf on that side. In 1987, at the age of 47, he had an acoustic neuroma removed from his left-side hearing nerve, an operation that left him completely deaf.
Dr. Miller taught at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale for thirty-two years, and retired from SIUC in 1999. Later serving as the Executive Director of the Missouri Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (MCDHH) from 1999 to 2008. He was a former president of the Association of Late-Deafened Adults (ALDA). He published numerous articles concerning hearing loss, as well as presenting on many national and international stages related to deafness. Dr. Miller received several awards for his work in behalf of deaf and hard of hearing people, including the H. Latham Breunig Humanitarian Award from TDI.