Raised in a home filled with art, Robert Miller grew up surrounded by creativity and inspiration. “Everything in my family home was a work of art,” he recalls. His mother, an oil painter, filled the house with color and movement, often working on several canvases at once. During family vacations and his own travels around the world, Miller spent countless hours in art galleries—from Chicago and New York to Madrid, Paris, and Port-au-Prince—laying the foundation for a lifelong passion for art and culture. 

Before dedicating himself fully to painting, Robert Miller led an accomplished and multifaceted life. He served in the U.S. Army from 1962 to 1968, graduated from Marquette University and attended Pepperdine University’s Graduate School, where he was accepted into the President and Key Executive Officers MBA program. His professional path spanned banking, advertising, and entrepreneurship, including roles as a commercial banker, director of advertising and public relations, and co-founder of an international satellite business.  

A dedicated supporter of the arts, Miller co-founded and served as long-time chairman of the California Philharmonic Orchestra (CalPhil), a role that deepened his connection between music and visual expression. Athletic and inventive by nature, he ran 3 marathons and once played football in the Central States Football League, a feeder circuit to the National Football League (NFL), and built three-wheeled motorcycles known as Trirod. 

Miller’s lifelong appreciation for aesthetics extended well beyond his own creations. As a collector, he amassed a distinguished body of Haitian paintings and metal sculptures, alongside rare French poster art. His attention to presentation was meticulous—“I light my collection by a single switch and dimmers,” he said. “There were no other lights in those rooms.” His homes became curated environments, reflections of both artistic admiration and precision. 

At eighty-two, Miller discovered his own calling as a painter. Seven knee surgeries, two back surgeries, and a hip stabilization surgery later that left him with limited mobility, he sought a new sense of purpose. “I realized I couldn't just read books and watch television all day,” he explained. “So I chose to add painting to my repertoire.” Encouraged by artist Shelley Rygg, he ordered canvases, brushes, and acrylic paints online, completing his first painting on November 1, 2024. Since then, he has averaged a new piece every two to three days—sharing his art on social media and with critics to seek feedback and growth. 

His artistic journey began with landscapes—“dozens of sunrises and sunsets, mountains, trees, and rivers”—before expanding into bold, Cubist-inspired portraits. “I painted an inspired painting and loved it,” he said. “I’ve painted about 50 faces of women—bold, inspired by Picasso and Matisse.” Other influences include Vincent van Gogh, whose story of passion and perseverance resonates deeply with Miller, as well as Winston Churchill, Howard Stern, and President George W. Bush, each of whom found artistic voice later in life. Music, too, is central to his process: classical symphonies and 1960s tunes fill his studio, connecting his painter’s rhythm to his years with CalPhil. 

Miller’s creative philosophy is one of bold experimentation and dialogue with the canvas. “When I finish a painting and say to myself, I’m done, I hang it and look at it multiple times a day,” he says. “If I finish a painting and realize I don’t like it, I paint over it and create another work of art. It’s very satisfying to paint out a painting.” He defines success through connection: “I finished a painting. I set it on an easel and it stares back at me 24/7. The eyes in the painting are watching me and I’m watching the eyes… We’re having a romance in art.” 

Viewers are invited into that same dialogue. Miller often leaves the interpretation open—“I let the viewer decide if it’s a sunrise or a sunset, tropical or cold water—it’s in the eye of the viewer.” His work, like his personality, is unapologetically expressive: “I’m a big loud man with a big personality, a booming voice that comes out in my art. My art is bold and colorful and booming.” 

In recent months, Miller has begun sharing his work publicly, and is currently exhibiting his artwork at El Portal Mayan Mexican Restaurant and set to exhibit at Jones Coffee Roasters in Pasadena in February 2026. “For six months, I told everyone that nothing was for sale,” he laughs. “Then people started messaging me—someone in Florida bought a painting for $1,250, another for $1,000—and friends told me, this is good enough to have a show.” Though he jokes about not caring for legacy—“When you’re dead, you’re dead”—he hopes his paintings will live on, passed between family members and collectors as expressions of joy, resilience, and imagination. 

Today, Robert Miller paints daily in his Pasadena studio. “Just pick up a canvas and a paintbrush and take it with me,” he says. “Paint wherever I go.” His story is a testament to reinvention and passion—proof that creativity has no age limit, and that art can begin, quite beautifully, at any stage of life.