Kathryn and Morris F. "Moe" Miller
Bellevue University recently received a $500,000 gift from Union Pacific Corp., which will be used to establish the Morris F. Miller Business Leadership Fund at the school.
The fund is named in honor of the late Morris F. “Moe” Miller, a long-time Omaha business leader. In 1990, as a retired member of the Union Pacific Board of Directors, Miller designated Bellevue University as beneficiary of the gift through the company’s Board of Directors Charitable Plan. Union Pacific created the Board of Directors’ Charitable Plan to recognize the interest of the company and its board members in supporting worthy charitable and educational institutions. Under the plan, donations are paid no later than 10 years following the death of the board member’s death. Miller died in 1998. The gift will become part of the University’s permanent endowment and endowment income used to underwrite educational initiatives for employees and businesses.
Bellevue University President John Muller said the Miller Business Leadership Fund will provide important seed money to benefit not only companies but their employees and the communities where they operate.
“At Bellevue University, we believe that higher education has a responsibility to help people have more successful and fulfilling lives and careers, and help American businesses compete and grow in an increasingly competitive and dynamic global economy,” Muller said. “Bellevue University is extremely fortunate and grateful, both to Moe Miller, for his endorsement well over a decade ago, and to Union Pacific Corporation, for its generosity and foresight in establishing the Board of Directors’ Charitable Plan. This gift will enable the university to take a more active role and have more impact.”
Miller’s wife, Kathryn, who served eight years on the Bellevue University Foundation Board of Directors from 1993 to 2001, said his primary reason for selecting Bellevue University as beneficiary of the gift was the university’s commitment to members of the military.
“Moe appreciated the University’s involvement in adult education, especially its relationship with the Strategic Air Command (now Stratcom) and Air Force personnel stationed at Offutt Air Force Base,” she said. “Moe served in the Army himself, and he believed those who sacrifice and serve our country deserve our support. He felt that the University did a good job of keeping tuition affordable and enabling servicemen and women to transfer their accumulated academic credits in order to complete their degrees.”
An Omaha native, Miller served in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II. After the war, he began his banking career as a 27-year-old teller in a Gering, Neb., bank. He eventually became chairman and chief executive officer of Omaha National Bank (now part of U.S. Bancorp), which at the time was Nebraska’s largest commercial bank. Bellevue University presented Miller an honorary Doctor of Laws degree in 1989.
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