22 POTATO GROWER | JANUARY 2020
Creighton Miller, plant breeder
and professor in the Department of
Horticultural Sciences at Texas A&M
University, died in November after a long
bout with cancer. He was 79.
More than 25 years ago, Miller was
recognized by the U.S. potato industry—
particularly his colleagues in the research
community—when he was named an
honorary life member of the Potato
Association of America.
And he was just getting started.
Miller began working with potatoes as a
youth when he assisted his father, Julian
Miller Sr., who was a plant breeder at
Louisiana State University. He earned his
bachelor's and master's degrees from LSU,
then his doctorate from Michigan State
University in horticulture, specializing in
plant breeding.
Miller was hired in 1972 by the Texas A&M
AgriLife Research & Extension Center
at Lubbock to initiate a potato variety
development program for Texas. In 1975,
he took a teaching/research position
in the Department of Horticultural
Sciences with Texas A&M in College
Station. He also served as interim head of
the department from 1980 to 1983.
During his career, Miller developed or
The Art of Leaving a
The late Creighton
Miller, longtime Texas
A&M potato breeder,
is remembered
for the lessons he
taught as much as
for the research he
performed.
By Kay Ledbetter
