Former Georgia governor, senator Miller dies at 86
Zell Miller died Friday at age 86 in the same mountain home where he was raised by a widowed mother who built their house with rocks pulled from a stream.
As Georgia’s governor, Miller successfully championed selling lottery tickets to fund scholarships in a Bible belt state and lost a fight to change the Confederate-themed state flag. As a U.S. senator, he enraged fellow Democrats with a primetime convention speech endorsing the reelection of President George W. Bush.
“He had an independent streak that was governed by what he thought was right,” said U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, a Georgia Republican who befriended Miller after a bitter political rivalry. “We need more people like him.”
Funeral arrangements will be announced later, grandson Bryan Miller said.