John R. Miller

John R. Miller of Pepper Pike, Ohio, died June 16, 2023 following bouts of endocarditis and pneumonia.  He is the beloved husband of Sue Butler, beloved father of Weston (wife Brianna Blair) of Chardon, OH and Vivian (husband Craft Cowan) and beloved grandfather of Cormac Cowan of Bowling Green, OH.  He was born in Dubuque, Iowa on December 9, 1948, the oldest son and second child of Robert and Ruth Miller.  John is survived by sister Mary Jo Bauer (husband Richard) of Madisonville, Ky, brother Alan (wife Sandra) of Everett, WA, sister Lois McFarland (husband Larry) of Los Alamos, NM, sister Jane Rosten (husband William) of Alexandria, MN, and brother Glen (wife Wenwen) of Everett, Washington.

While John was brilliant, especially in electronics and building things, he was also kind and compassionate.  He had BS and PhD degrees in Physics from MIT.  During his career he published more than 100 capacitor-related papers, prepared many government reports, wrote several book chapters, and was awarded thirteen U.S. patents.  At the time of his death he was still working with clients, reviewing papers for different publications, and preparing an invited talk to give in Japan in September.

After graduating from college, John worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory where he met Sue.  He was then recruited to work for Standard Oil of Ohio (later BP) at the University of Rochester Laser Laboratory and then moved to the SOHIO/BP Research Center in Warrensville Heights, OH.  In 1989 John founded JME Inc, a consulting and testing company working primarily on electrochemical capacitors.  Sue worked with him at JME for the last twenty years of her career. 

John became a noted authority on electrochemical capacitors with clients in the US and around the world.  He assisted in the development and market introduction of materials and electrochemical capacitor products now available for commercial, military, and medical applications.  He was a pioneer in the development of asymmetric systems and invented the high frequency double layer capacitor.  He assisted DOE and other agencies in establishing appropriate test methods and evaluation procedures for high-power capacitors.

During his years with JME, John was often invited to give talks, tutorials, and short courses.  After doing this for years he still had his initial enthusiasm; it was infectious.  His curiosity was infectious.  He loved to learn from others and to help them with their capacitor and energy storage-related projects.

John’s curiosity and enthusiasm extended to travel; travel with his family, for business and as a combination of the two.  He and Sue traveled extensively to Japan, Europe, Asia, South Africa, and all over.  With months here and there and repeated trips to some places, they had the opportunity to make good friends and get to know many places in the world.   

Many clients, colleagues and employees became collaborators and close friends.  He was generous with his knowledge and guidance.  He was an active member of the fellowship for 23 years and expressed gratitude towards others and for his life on a daily basis.  John’s generosity of spirit, supportive nature, respect for others, and curiosity for new places will be greatly missed.

A memorial service will be held at 3pm on Sunday, July 16th at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Cleveland, 21600 Shaker Blvd, Shaker Hts., OH 44122.  The service will be livestreamed and recorded to this web page.