Melville Miller, a founder of Legal Services of New Jersey and its longtime president, died Monday at age 76.

Miller helped to start Legal Services of New Jersey, kept it running amid ever-present fiscal pressures, and was an advocate for New Jersey residents living in poverty.

Miller, who was known to friends as De, became director of a regional affiliate, Middlesex County Legal Services, in 1972, then became the first president and executive director of Legal Services of New Jersey in 1975. He continued in that capacity until the summer of 2020, when he assumed the role of president emeritus and Dawn Miller became the group's president. He remained active in Legal Services business even after he retired.