Joshua Taggart Miller

Joshua Taggart Miller, a Baltimore-born lacrosse player and advocate who left a successful career in investment banking to pursue his passions for acting and writing, passed away suddenly on June 16, 2005 in Los Angeles, California, after a long struggle with depression. Josh graduated in 1991 from The Gilman School in Baltimore, where he was an outstanding student and athlete, serving as co-captain of the senior football and lacrosse teams. A 1995 graduate of Princeton University, he majored in United States history and was senior co-captain of the Tigers’ varsity lacrosse team, earning All-American honors. His life-long love of lacrosse led him to a series of coaching positions, including assistant coach for the 1996 NCAA playoff team at Hofstra University and several youth lacrosse programs. In 2001, soon after moving to the West Coast, Josh founded Tiger Camp California; a San Francisco based summer lacrosse camp affiliated with Princeton University’s coaching staff. Soon after, he founded Lacrosse for Life, a volunteer organization that introduces lacrosse to at-risk youth in under-served urban communities. Troubled by the lack of resources in the city’s poorer schools, John saw Lacrosse for Life as a bridge to success for inner city children, teaching them how goal-setting, discipline and commitment could help them achieve larger dreams. In 2003, US Lacrosse named Josh and Andrew McDonald, who helped him launch the organization, as “Exceptional Urban/Motivational Youth Coaches of The Year”. McDonald and Johanna Thomashefski continue to run the program today. At the time of his death, Josh was writing and acting in Los Angeles. Josh was a sensitive, insightful person who set the highest possible standards for himself in all he pursued, from his acting studies and writing to his community work. He will be deeply missed as a son, friend and colleague. Josh is survived by his parents, Edwin F. Miller and Sherry Taggart Miller of Oxford; his paternal grandparents, Charles Hobart Miller and Edith May Miller of Ocean City; his maternal grandmother, Mary M. Taggart and aunt, Connie Sue Walworth and her husband Joe, all of Wickenburg, AZ; his uncle, Richard D. Miller and his wife Claire of Valley Forge, PA; and cousins, Tyra and Mali Mrozinski and Gordie and Garrett Taggart. A celebration of life service will be held at 2 PM Friday, June 24th in the Oxford Town Park, with fellowship to follow at the Oxford Community Center. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be directed to the Lacrosse for Life Foundation at PO Box 590385, San Francisco CA 94159, or through the web site: www.lacrosseforlife.org Arrangements are by Fellows, Helfenbein and Newnam Funeral Home, P. A., Easton, MD.