Robert Walter Miller Jr., a retired businessman and co-founder of Filterite Corp. who was an avid model railroader, died Saturday of liver cancer at the Colonnade in the city's Tuscany- Canterbury neighborhood.
He was 84.
Mr. Miller, whose father owned an egg and butter business and whose mother was a homemaker, was born in Baltimore and raised near Lake Montebello.
He was a City College graduate and earned a bachelor's degree in business in 1948 from the Johns Hopkins University.
Mr. Miller began selling filtration equipment in the late 1940s for Industrial Products Co. In 1960, he was a co-founder of Filterite Corp., a Timonium manufacturer of filters.
He sold the company in 1973 to Brunswick Corp., and remained with the new company as vice president until 1977 when he retired.
Mr. Miller lived for years at Hillstead Farm, his 60-acre Brooklandville farm, until 1990 when he moved into the Colonnade.
A lifelong model railroad enthusiast, Mr. Miller had gone from Lionel O-gauge trains to HO-gauge and, finally, to Z-gauge, and converted a room in his condominium into a vast model railroad system, said a son, Bruce C. Miller of Lutherville.
Mr. Miller also was a golfer and enjoyed vacationing at Sea Island, Ga.
His wife of 40 years, the former Betty Powell, died in 1986.
Services are private.
Mr. Miller was a member of the Baltimore Country Club at Five Farms, 11500 Mays Chapel Road, Lutherville, where a memorial gathering will be held from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday.
Also surviving are his wife of six years, the former Dorothy Jones; another son, Robert W. Miller III of Lutherville; and two grandchildren.
fred.rasmussen@baltsun.com