Former HUDS Executive Chef Dies

Former Harvard University Dining Services (HUDS) executive chef for residential dining D. Michael Miller was found dead in his Somerville home last week. He was 42.

Colleagues remember Miller as a man who was committed to charitable causes and popular among HUDS workers and students.

“I know that Michael touched the lives of many of us in the food service industry and he will be remembered fondly and deeply missed,” Ted A. Mayer, executive director of dining services, wrote in an e-mail to HUDS employees.

HUDS workers described Miller as a friend of HUDS workers who ignored the traditional worker-management divide.

“He was one of the management people who knew all of our names,” said Olga P. Santos, a HUDS employee who works in Annenberg Hall.

Known at HUDS as the “ambassador to the Harvard community” according to Mayer, Miller was popular among the College students he served. Miller enjoyed greeting and personally introducing himself to first year students in Annenberg, Mayer wrote.

He also introduced a number of popular programs to HUDS. Among these programs was Cooking for the Culinarily Challenged, which teaches College seniors the basics of cooking for themselves.

Miller also brought Boston area chefs to Harvard kitchens with the Visiting Chef Series, while also introducing family recipes to Harvard dining hall menus with the Recipes from Home program. In addition, he began training partnerships with the culinary schools Johnson & Wales and New England Culinary Institute.

Also committed to providing quality food to needy people, Miller was involved with the organization Community Servings, which makes and delivers free meals to people living with AIDS in the Boston area. Active in the organization’s Pie in the Sky fundraiser that sells Thanksgiving pies to raise money for Community Servings, Miller organized HUDS to bake 1,000 pies per year for the program. Miller’s involvement raised about $25,000 for Community Servings, said David B. Waters, the organization’s executive director.

“He was a very kind and generous man,” Waters said. “He’s always been there for us.”

After working for HUDS for ten years, Miller had been fired this spring. HUDS employees said they were “shocked” when they found out that Miller had been fired, Santos said.

Several HUDS employees said he was not given a going away function, and did not say good-bye to HUDS workers.

“One day he was just gone,” Santos said. “They lost a great guy.”

According to several workers, HUDS management has not told HUDS workers why Miller was fired.

“There are a lot of rumors,” Santos said. “But none of us really know.”

A week and a half after police found Miller in his bed in Somerville, theause of his death remains unknown, said Somerville Police spokesperson Lieutenant Frank Kelley.

A medical examiner is running toxicology tests, which are “a standard thing” in cases in which there is no obvious cause of death, according to Kelley.

The police came to Miller’s home after his landlord had noticed that he had not retrieved his mail or newspapers in several days. Miller’s family had also contacted the landlord, saying that they could not get through to Miller, Kelley said.

While HUDS employees have in the last week speculated on various causes for Miller’s death, police were saw no immediate explanations.

Kelley said that police found “no indication” of a suicide, or that alcohol was involved.

“There’s nothing in the report that there was drug paraphernalia or alcohol around the bed,” Kelley said. “But when someone dies at 42, there’s got to be some sort of problem.”

—Staff writer Stephanie M. Skier can be reached at skier@fas.harvard.edu.