Edythe S Miller

Edythe S. Miller, Economist and former Chair of Colorado Public Utilities Commission

As a child growing up in Brooklyn, Edie Miller knew she wanted to be the first in her family to go to college. Thinking she could only apply to one school, and having never been outside of NY, she applied and was accepted to the University of Denver. She never looked back. She found her passion in the Department of Economics. By the time she was 22, she had earned her Masters degree and had two children with her beloved husband Marty Miller, a war veteran and attorney. When her fourth child was in kindergarten, Edie went back to school to study for her PhD in Economics from the University of Colorado. While there, Edie taught classes at CU-Denver and in Boulder. After receiving her PhD, she taught classes at Metropolitan State College of Denver. In 1974, Edie was appointed by Governor Lamm to the Colorado Public Utilities Commission as the first woman and first economist ever to sit on the PUC. At the time she was appointed, she was active in the state Democratic party, a member of the board of the American Civil Liberties Union and a member of the National Organization of Women, the NAACP, and Common Cause. Edie served 12 years on the PUC, as its Chair for many years before retiring in 1987. Her time on the Commission was a time of upheaval including public protests about changes in energy and telecommunications, all of which she managed deftly. During her testimony before the Senate Business Affairs Committee in 1981 when she was unanimously recommended to serve a 2nd term, Edie testified that a PUC member has to walk a “tightrope” between consumer concerns and business realities. She served as Chair of the National Regulatory Research Institute, comprised of public utility commissioners throughout the country. In 2002, Edie received from the Association for Evolutionary Economics the Veblen-Commons lifetime achievement award recognizing her as one of the most respected institutional economists in the country. 

The family will have a celebration of life later this summer, for information please email [email protected].  She leaves behind her four children, 13 grandchildren, 16 great-grandchildren, and scores of friends and colleagues throughout the country. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to Colorado ACLU, the Southern Poverty Law Center, or Colorado Public Radio.