New book examines life of Leonard Miller
For over a quarter of a century, Dr. Leonard Albert Miller was at the centre of all the important decisions concerning medical matters in Newfoundland -- the cottage hospitals, the children's health plan, Medicare and the medical school at Memorial University. He was the highest ranking civil servant in the largest government department, firstly as director of medical services in the days of Commission of Government and then as deputy minister of health when Newfoundland joined Canada.
Dr. John Martin was a
friend and colleague of Dr. Miller, and he has now written a biography of this important
public figure. Leonard Albert Miller: Public Servant is a lucid and perceptive
account of a man who earned the respect of all who knew and worked with him.
Dr. Martin said the most difficult aspect in writing this book was delving below the public persona to try and understand Leonard Miller, the man. "He was a very private individual, but his reputation among his colleagues across the country was so high that one federal official described him as 'the best deputy minister of health in Canada.'"
He was certainly a man who commanded obedience. Dr. Martin relates the story of one meeting where physicians felt compelled to ignore a fine day and stay on at a meeting. "Like obedient school children they trooped into a nearby room for lunch and to hear the deputy minister of health. No one would have dared to walk out under his observant eye. Such was the hold Leonard Miller had on the physicians of Newfoundland, an acceptance by the profession that has never been equalled by a deputy minister."
Leonard Albert Miller: Public Servant is published by Fitzhenry & Whiteside Ltd.
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