Robert Warren Miller (born May 23, 1933) is an American-British billionaire, entrepreneur,

co-founder An organizational founder is a person who has undertaken some or all of the formational work needed to create a new organization, whether it is a business, a charitable organization, a governing body, a school, a group of entertainers, or any oth ...

of DFS (Duty Free Shops), and sailing

champion A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the victor in a challenge, Competition, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional/provincial/state, national, continental and world champi ...

. He is the father of Marie-Chantal, Crown Princess of Greece, Princess Alexandra von Fürstenberg, and Pia Getty, dubbed by tabloids and high society as The Miller Sisters.

Early life and education

Miller was born in

Quincy, Massachusetts Quincy ( ) is a city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the largest city in the county. Quincy is part of the Greater Boston area as one of Boston's immediate southern suburbs. Its population in ...

, on May 23, 1933, son of Ellis Miller, a bookkeeper and

salesman Sales are activities related to selling or the number of goods sold in a given targeted time period. The delivery of a service for a cost is also considered a sale. A period during which goods are sold for a reduced price may also be referred ...

, and Sophia "Sophie" Squarebriggs, a Canadian-born former

governess A governess is a woman employed as a private tutor, who teaches and trains a child or children in their home. A governess often lives in the same residence as the children she is teaching; depending on terms of their employment, they may or ma ...

. Miller attended

Cornell University School of Hotel Administration The Nolan School of Hotel Administration (SHA, more commonly known as the Hotel School) is a specialized business school in the Cornell Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University, a private Ivy League university located in ...

and graduated in 1955, with a Bachelor of Science in Hotel Administration. He was a member of the

Phi Kappa Psi Phi Kappa Psi (), commonly known as Phi Psi, is an American collegiate social fraternity that was founded at Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania in 1852. The fraternity has over ninety chapters at accredited four-year colleges and uni ...

fraternity and the Irving Literary Society.

Career

Duty Free Shoppers (DFS)

The concept of "

duty-free shop A duty-free shop or store is a retail outlet whose goods are exempt from the payment of certain local or national taxes and duties, on the requirement that the goods will be sold to travelers who will take them out of the country, who will ...

ping" – offering " high-end" concessions to travelers, free of import taxes – was in its infancy when Miller and his former college roommate

Chuck Feeney Charles Francis Feeney (April 23, 1931 – October 9, 2023) was an Irish-American businessman and philanthropist who made his fortune as a co-founder of Duty Free Shoppers Group, the travel retailer of luxury products based in Hong Kong. He wa ...

founded DFS on November 7, 1960. DFS began operations in Hong Kong, where it still maintains its corporate headquarters, later expanding to Europe and other continents. Miller founded the private investment firm Squadron Capital in the early 1970s. DFS' first major breakthrough came in the early 1960s, when it secured the exclusive concession for duty-free sales in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

and Hong Kong, allowing it to market its products to Japanese travelers.Dermot Davitt, The Moodie Report, November Personality of the Month: Robert Miller (June 6, 2010). DFS eventually expanded to off-airport duty-free stores and large downtown Galleria stores, and became the world's largest travel retailer. In 1996, Feeney's interests were acquired by

Louis Vuitton Louis Vuitton Malletier SAS, commonly known as Louis Vuitton (, ), is a French Luxury goods, luxury fashion house and company founded in 1854 by Louis Vuitton (designer), Louis Vuitton. The label's LV monogram appears on most of its products, ...

Moët

Hennessy Jas Hennessy & Cie., commonly known simply as Hennessy (), is a French producer of cognac, founded in 1765 by Richard Hennessy which has its headquarters in Cognac, France. It is one of the best-known cognac houses, along with Martell, Courvo ...

(

LVMH LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE (), commonly known as LVMH, is a French multinational holding company and conglomerate that specializes in luxury goods and has its headquarters in Paris, France. The company was formed in 1987 through the ...

), the French

luxury good In economics, a luxury good (or upmarket good) is a good for which demand increases more than what is proportional as income rises, so that expenditures on the good become a more significant proportion of overall spending. Luxury goods are in con ...

s group, for $1.63 billion. Miller kept his shares and remains a significant minority shareholder (38%) in DFS alongside LVMH, which bought out Feeney's share. More recently, Miller targeted the emergence of mainland China's economic elite. To present its new merchandise, DFS has moved beyond the airport liquor-store venue and into store environments, seeking to market the broadest portfolio of brand names in the travelling marketplace. In 2010, the DFS Group had an estimated sales of about €2.2 billion. As of 2012, it has 150 stores in fifteen Pacific countries. Its downtown activities operate under the Galleria brand. Miller was named the November 2010 Personality of the Month by The Moodie Report for his "advancement" of the "luxury goods industry's cause." That year, DFS celebrated its 50th anniversary at the DFS Galleria Sun Plaza store in Hong Kong, with a gala attended by 2000 guests, and featuring a performance by

Wyclef Jean Nel Ust Wyclef Jean ( ; born October 17, 1969) is a Haitian rapper, singer, and record producer. Born in Haiti, Jean emigrated to the Northeastern United States, United States as a child. He gained fame as a founding member of the Fugees, a Ne ...

Search Investment Group Ltd

In 1973, Miller founded Search Investment Group Ltd, an international investment company of which he is CEO and chairperson. The Search investment Group Ltd is a large shareholder in Ortelius Capital Partners, which is an investment firm founded by Miller's son-in-law HRH Prince Pavlos of Greece and Mr. Peter DeSorcy. He is also principal of SAIL advisors (Search Alternative Investments Ltd), global investors in

hedge fund A hedge fund is a Pooling (resource management), pooled investment fund that holds Market liquidity, liquid assets and that makes use of complex trader (finance), trading and risk management techniques to aim to improve investment performance and ...

s. Along with other assets, Miller was ranked in 2016 the 68th wealthiest person in the UK, down from 22nd in 2003.

Sailing records

In October 2003, Miller's

monohull right A monohull is a type of boat having only one hull, unlike multihulled boats which can have two or more individual hulls connected to one another. Fundamental concept Among the earliest hulls were simple logs, but these were generally unstab ...

yacht A yacht () is a sail- or marine propulsion, motor-propelled watercraft made for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a ...

, the Mari-Cha IV, set a new

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizatio ...

, becoming the first

ever to cross the Atlantic Ocean in under seven days. During the same crossing, the yacht also broke the 24-hour distance record, by sailing . Both he and his son-in-law Pavlos, Crown Prince of Greece were crew members. On April 30, 2005, the Mari-Cha IV won the Rolex Transatlantic Challenge and broke the century-old record for a west-to-east transatlantic crossing established by Charlie Barr. It completed the 2,925-nautical mile passage across the North Atlantic between New York and England in a time of 9 days, 15 hours, 55 minutes and 23 seconds—a full 2 days, 12 hours, 6 minutes and 56 seconds faster than the record set 100 years earlier.Mike Hanlon, Century-old Transatlantic Challenge Record Broken (April 30, 2005). During the record-breaking crossing, Miller pushed the Mari-Cha IV beyond its limits in poor weather, and the mainsail headboard and the headboard cars on both mainsail and mizzen broke.

Personal life

On August 3, 1965, Miller married Ecuadorian-born María Clara "Chantal" Pesantes Becerra. They have three daughters: Pia (b. 1966), Marie-Chantal (b. 1968), and

Alexandra Alexandra () is a female given name of Greek origin. It is the first attested form of its variants, including Alexander (, ). Etymology, Etymologically, the name is a compound of the Greek verb (; meaning 'to defend') and (; genitive, GEN , ; ...

(b. 1972). He owns the Gunnerside Estate in

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

, one of the largest sporting country estates in

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

Associations

Miller is a trustee of the Asia Society, the Independent non-executive director and Member of the Remuneration Committee of Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels Ltd., and presidential councilor and trustee emeritus of Cornell University.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, Robert W. 1933 births Living people American billionaires American people of Canadian descent Businesspeople from Massachusetts Cornell University School of Hotel Administration alumni People from Quincy, Massachusetts Hong Kong businesspeople Hong Kong people of American descent Miller family