Born London, January 17, 1925. Died London, December 2, 2008, aged 83.
February 12, 2009 12:21A leading international art and scholarly publisher, Harvey Miller developed the Phaidon Press.
East End-born, he moved at eight to Tel Aviv with his parents, Fanny and Barnet Miller, who built and ran one of the earliest hotels, the Yarkon. His pioneering Zionist grandparents had settled in Palestine in 1929.
The second of four children, Harvey returned alone to London after barmitzvah for Regent Street Polytechnic school but was evacuated to Minehead.
He won an open scholarship to study natural sciences at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge. Graduating in 1945, he served as an officer in the Royal Navy, then returned to Cambridge for postgraduate studies.
In 1948 he clandestinely went to Israel on a DP immigrant ship to fight in the War of Independence, in which his younger brother died. Volunteering for the newly formed Israeli navy, he was a pioneer in establishing radar and set up the first radar station in Haifa.
Shortly after returning to Britain in late 1949, he married Elly, daughter of Bela Horovitz, founder of the Phaidon Press and East & West Library.
Following a period in science publishing, he joined Phaidon and, after Horovitz’s death in 1955, took over as director of the press. He developed its profile as a leading international art publisher and expanded its distinguished list, including the Catalogues of Drawings and Paintings in the Royal Collection.
Under the imprint of the East & West Library, he introduced English readers to leading Israeli authors, such as Moshe Shamir. In 1968, with his wife, he started his own press, Harvey Miller Publishers, specialising in academic books on art and medicine.
He was innovative in producing the first Pathology Atlas in full colour, which became a best-seller, while his art history list attained international recognition for its contribution to mediaeval studies.
One of his early publications was the Catalogue of the Jewish Museum London (1974), now a collector’s item. In 1989 he published a Commemorative Volume for the jubilee of the Cambridge University Jewish Society.
He had a lifelong passion for Jewish learning and was an active member of Chelsea Synagogue, where he delivered inspiring sermons and led debates on Jewish issues. His intellectual curiosity and wisdom made an enduring impression.
He is survived by his wife, Elly; two daughters, Dorothy and Tamar; a son, Malcolm; nine grandchildren and a great granddaughter.