Lee Keiter Miller

1951 - 2016

February 27, 1951 - June 28, 2016 Lee Miller -- wife, mother, business leader, educator, confidante, friend, spreader of love, and overall extraordinary person -- passed away on June 28th after a long and hard-fought tug-of-war with cancer. She was 65 years young. Lee was born in Los Angeles to Constance Keiter and George Keiter (deceased) and spent her formative years at Beverly Hills High (where she'd meet her future husband and love of her life, Steve Miller), University of Denver, UCLA and Pepperdine. She worked as a mommy-and-me instructor and elementary school teacher before finding her true calling as the founder and owner of Cal/West Educators Placement, which matched teachers with independent schools in Southern California and beyond. Lee played a part in thousands of placements of teachers in the state, making her truly lasting impact on the next generations of Californians vast and unquantifiable. For the past three years she specialized in doing searches for Heads of Schools and other senior school leaders, making her legacy even greater. Meanwhile, she was also an extraordinary mother to Jeff, Brian, and David Miller -- along with dozens of their friends who considered her a "second mom," opening her house to anyone and inviting them for pizza, Chinese food, Mexican, or whatever, so long as she wasn't cooking (she was many things: a chef was not one of them). With a phone permanently attached to her ear, she organized outings and trips for group after group of friends, with no diagnosis ever stopping her from being a relentless ball of infectious energy and a world traveller. In just the past few years, she found the ambition and energy to visit Jamaica, Cuba, Europe, Panama, Mexico, Hawaii, and many more far-flung and close-to-home places, playing games with family, having adventures, reuniting with long-lost friends, and living life to the fullest throughout: only Lee could have arranged to have her manicure done after being checked into the hospital! Along with her mother, husband, and sons, she'll be missed by her sister Kathy Hakim, her brother Ken Keiter and his wife Nancy, her brothers and sisters in law Marc and Cindy Miller and Marla and Steve Goldberg, and scores of cousins, relatives, friends, and other family members who were lucky enough to find themselves in her orbit. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the Tower Cancer Research Foundation, which will help to ensure that any other Lees who may be out there are never slowed down.