Phil Miller was a devoted son, brother, husband and father who will be forever remembered for his great sense of humor and calm demeanor. Many have described him as an extremely bright, kind and gentle man.

Early in their relationship, Phil couldn’t afford both the train and the cost of the date with his sweetheart, Arlene. So he walked two hours from his home in Upper Manhattan to pick her up from her home in the Bronx. He worked as a newspaper delivery boy to earn enough money to take Arlene to Greenwich Village, which was a big deal in those days. This must have made a big impression on Arlene because they were later married and lived a long life together.

Phil and Arlene had two children; a daughter, Sheryl, and a son, Danny.

Danny, who has cerebral palsy, resided in a home for the disabled in New York. Arlene and Phil became close to the counselors at the home considering many of them “family,” particularly night counselor, Robert Beattie. Robert says, “Mr. Miller was a good man. He was a very good man. He loved his family.”

Phil and Arlene were looking forward to Phil’s retirement in a few years. They were planning to move to Florida to spend their retirement with Sheryl and their grandchildren.

Phil and Arlene were married for 33 years before Phil’s untimely death in the September 11th attacks.

Phil was also a hard worker who quickly worked his way from actuary student to upper management.

In 1968, at 20 years old, Phil had already graduated from City College of New York and had passed two Casualty Actuary Society (CAS) exams. That same year he began working in the actuarial deparment at the Insurance Rating Board (later called Insurance Servicess Office, Inc [ISO]) in one of the buildings at the World Trade Center. While balancing work and fatherhood, Phil continued to study and pass all of his requried CAS exams. By May 1975 Phil had passed all of his exams, on the first sitting, and became a CAS Fellow.

Phil continued to work hard and quickly made his way up the corporate ladder. He started as an actuary student moving to manager, vice president and finally to the position he held until he left ISO; senior vice president and chief actuary.

Phil’s co-workers remember him fondly. Rose Reindl states, “Phil had the ability to recognize your strengths even before you may have recognized them yourself — and he helped to nurture these strengths. While he remained focused and a classic workaholic, Phil always found the time to laugh and enjoy life. He was easy to talk to and made time to listen. To many of us, Phil was not just our boss or our colleague — he was our friend.”

In 1995, Phil left ISO, and the WTC, to become an actuary consultant for Tillinghast-Towers Perrin. Ollie Sherman recalls Phil as “pleasant and positive.” Ollie goes on to say that Phil “virtually single-handly prevented the potential devasting consequences of Y2K, through spreading the word on the significant exposure presented by the millennium issue.”

In March 2001, Phil returned to the WTC as assistant director and actuary at AON Corp. His office was located on the 102nd floor of the World Trade Center’s Tower #2 (the south tower). This was the second tower to be hit and the first tower to fall.

As an affectionate husband, he called his wife from work every day. He called her when he got to work in the morning, during lunch and before he left the office.

On the morning of September 11th the call Arlene received was much different than any call before. She says, “He told me a ball of fire had passed his window into the first tower. He knew something was very wrong and said he’d call me when he got out. I knew Philip. If he had to crawl to call me, he would have.” He was last seen on the 78th floor. Arlene never heard from him again.

Prior to September 11th, there were 2,996 extraordinary citizens who were heroes in the minds of their family and friends, but many of us did not know them. Thanks to D.Challener Roe and his website we now know, not only their names, but more about their lives. It’s been five years since we lost them and we have not forgotten. We will always remember.