Dr. William R. Miner, a resident of Arbor Glen in Bridgewater since March 2000, died there on Feb. 11, 2017. He was 92.
Actively involved in the Arbor Glen community, he was selected a Living Treasure in 2002, served as vice president and president of the Residents Association, 2004-08. In 2008-11, he was the first elected resident representative member of the Arbor Glen governing board.
Born in Wooster on April 13, 1924, he earned a B.A. degree from Hiram College (1945), an MSW from the University of Michigan (1950), a PhD. from Brandeis University (1976), and received an honorary LLD from The College of Wooster (1969).
Miner had a varied career in the USA and overseas spanning more than 50 years. He worked for the YMCA and a pilot community service delivery project in Detroit, Mich., and for the county tuberculosis association in Indianapolis, Ind.
His first overseas assignment was with the American Friends Service Committee (Quakers) in an Arab village development project in Israel. He later served as the United Nations Community Development Expert to the Government of Liberia.
Miner was on the staff of the U.S. foreign aid agency (USAID) for 38 years. There were short-term assignments as community development adviser to the national governments of Korea, Tanzania and Togo. He served for four years in that capacity to the Government of Kenya, two years before and after independence. In headquarters in Washington, D.C., he worked in four geographic bureaus and four central technical bureaus. He was founding director of the Office of Urban Development, a position he held for 10 years. He was official U.S.A. delegate to international meetings in London, Paris, Rome, Geneva, Manila, Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro, Tokyo, Vancouver and New York, and was a permanent U.S.A. representative on the United Nations Commission on Human Settlements. Miner retired in 1998.
He was a founding member of the National Association of Social Workers and its Academy of Certified Social Workers and member emeritus of the American Public Health Association. He also was a member of The Presbyterian Church at Bound Brook, N.J. As a tenor soloist, he performed in the U.S.A. and overseas.
Surviving are his wife, LaVerne; his stepson, Edward Wright (Meghan); a foster sister, Shirley Smith; and many nieces and nephews.
Comments are closed.