FILE - In this Nov. 14, 2008, file photo, former Alaska governors Bill Sheffield, from left, Walter J. Hickel, Frank Murkowski, Tony Knowles, Steve Cowper, and Keith Miller, right, with then Gov. Sarah Palin, front left, and Territorial Gov. Mike Stepovich, front right, talk as they wait for a ceremony to honor Alaska governors as part of Alaska's 50th anniversary in Anchorage, Alaska. Miller, who served as Alaska's third governor, has died at age 94. His step-daughter, Carol Slater, confirmed Miller died of pancreatic cancer while in hospice care Saturday, March 2, 2019, in Anchorage. (AP Photo/Al Grillo, File)
Republished March 07, 2019 - 9:43 AM
Original Publication Date March 06, 2019 - 5:56 PM
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Keith Miller, who served as Alaska's third governor, has died. He was 94.
His step-daughter, Carol Slater, confirmed Miller died of pancreatic cancer while in hospice care Saturday in Anchorage.
Miller was serving as Alaska's secretary of state when Gov. Wally Hickel was selected by President Richard Nixon to be the secretary of the U.S. Interior. Alaska didn't have a lieutenant governor position then.
Alaska came into sudden wealth under Miller's governorship when an oil lease sale on the North Slope fetched $900-million.
Miller served as governor for two years, losing to Gov. William Egan in 1970. Miller ran again in 1974, only to lose in the Republican primary.
Born March 1, 1925, in Seattle, he moved to Alaska in 1946 and homesteaded in the Talkeetna area.
News from © The Associated Press, 2019