Sara Shapiro Miller (July 8, 1924 – October 29, 2016) was an American real estate executive and sculptor.

Early life

Born Sara Shirlee Shapiro on the west side of

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, Miller was the daughter of Philip Shapiro, a baker, and Rose Morris Shapiro, a boarding house proprietor. The tenth of twelve children, she grew up in the

Lincoln Park Lincoln Park is a park along Lake Michigan on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. Named after US president Abraham Lincoln, it is the city's largest public park and stretches for from Grand Avenue (500 N), on the south, to near Ardmore Avenu ...

neighborhood. After graduation from Jones Commercial High School she entered the world of real estate, taking a job as a professional realtor with

Arthur Rubloff Arthur Rubloff (June 25, 1902 – May 24, 1986) was an American real estate developer who founded Arthur Rubloff & Co. and is credited with naming and developing North Michigan Avenue in Chicago, Illinois, into the "Magnificent Mile". Biography ...

. Beginning in the field of office leasing, she later moved to commercial and industrial real estate, eventually becoming a vice president at Rubloff's firm.

Personal life

Married in 1946 to Ira J. Miller, she was the mother of three children. Miller and her husband were among the founders of Little City, and did philanthropic work on behalf of the developmentally disabled, raising money to build a home for them in

Palatine A palatine or palatinus (Latin; : ''palatini''; cf. derivative spellings below) is a high-level official attached to imperial or royal courts in Europe since Roman Empire, Roman times.

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

. The couple were members of Anshe Emet Synagogue. Miller began studying ceramics and sculpture in her retirement years, studying at Truman College and at the

School of the Art Institute of Chicago The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) is a Private university, private art school associated with the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to an art students' cooperative founded in 1866, which gr ...

and working with Anna Varalla and Morino Moretti, the latter in

Orvieto Orvieto () is a city and ''comune'' in the Province of Terni, southwestern Umbria, Italy, situated on the flat summit of a large butte of volcanic tuff. The city rises dramatically above the almost-vertical faces of tuff cliffs that are compl ...

. She was a member of Chicago's Palette and Chisel Artist's studio. In later years she lived at the Hancock Tower, where she died.

Sculpting career

Miller produced a number of public sculptures for Chicago institutions during her career. Among these were busts of

Saul Bellow Saul Bellow (born Solomon Bellows; June 10, 1915April 5, 2005) was a Canadian-American writer. For his literary work, Bellow was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the 1976 Nobel Prize in Literature, and the National Medal of Arts. He is the only write ...

, installed in the

Harold Washington Library The Harold Washington Library Center is the central library for the Chicago Public Library System. It is located just south of the Loop 'L', at 400 South State Street in Chicago, in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is a full-service library and ...

in 1993, and

Gwendolyn Brooks Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks (June 7, 1917 – December 3, 2000) was an American poet, author, and teacher. Her work often dealt with the personal celebrations and struggles of ordinary people in her community. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Poet ...

, commissioned for the same location the following year. Brooks honored the artist with a poem upon completion of her portrait. The library also owns a 1994 bust of

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway ( ; July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer and journalist. Known for an economical, understated style that influenced later 20th-century writers, he has been romanticized fo ...

by the artist. Copies of the busts of both Bellow and Brooks are owned by the

National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to: * National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra * National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred *National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C. *National Portrait Gallery, London ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, Sara 1924 births 2016 deaths American businesspeople in real estate Businesspeople from Chicago Artists from Chicago Sculptors from Illinois 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American businesswomen 20th-century American sculptors 20th-century American women sculptors 21st-century American sculptors 21st-century American women sculptors School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumni