David C. Miller

Who was David C. Miller?

David Critcherson Miller was an American physician and epidemiologist who attended to Albert Schweitzer until the humanitarian's death and later devoted his life to famine and medical relief efforts together with his wife, who was Schweitzer's only child.

Miller was born on March 9, 1917, in Elizabeth, New Jersey, to Benjamin and Mary Elizabeth Chritcherson Miller. He was primarily raised in Wadsworth, Ohio. He attended Northwestern University and Antioch College. He married Margaret Edith Barton, a fellow Antioch student, in 1945. After graduating from the Duke University School of Medicine in 1950, he attended Harvard University, where he was awarded a master's degree in public health in 1956.

He was employed by the United States Public Health Service in Washington, D.C., where he was responsible for nutrition programs. Starting in 1957, he was assigned to the Public Health Service Indian Hospital in Tuba City, Arizona, remaining there until 1959.

He went to Africa in the 1960s to perform a study on heart disease at the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Gabon. He developed a close relationship with Dr. Schweitzer, and cared for him until his death in 1965.