A. Stevens Miles Jr., Rector Emeritus of Washington and Lee University, Dies at 85
A. Stevens Miles Jr., a rector emeritus and trustee emeritus of Washington and Lee University, died on April 29 in Louisville, Kentucky. He was 85. Miles served on the W&L Board of Trustees from 1988 to 1997, and as the rector of the board from 1990 to 1997. A banking executive, he was the retired president of National City Corp.
Miles graduated from W&L in 1951 with a B.A. in economics. He served as the president of Phi Delta Theta fraternity and belonged to the Sigma Society. As an alumnus, he served on the area and national steering committees for the On the Shoulders of Giants capital campaign, and on his 50th reunion committee. The Louisville Alumni Chapter gave him the 250th Chapter Honoree Award in 1989, and the University inducted him as an honorary member of Omicron Delta Kappa, the national leadership fraternity, in 1994.
A generous benefactor of his alma mater, Miles supported the Class of 1951 Thomas K. Wolfe Jr. Distinguished Lectures Endowment and enhancements to the theater program and aquatics program. In 1991, he established the A. Stevens Miles Library Endowment at W&L. He also made a provision for the A. Stevens Miles Professorship in Banking and Finance.
He served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War, from 1951 to 1953. In 1964, he received a business degree from the ABA Stonier Graduate School of Banking at Rutgers University.
In 1954, Miles began his banking career with the First National Bank of Louisville. He was named president of the bank in 1972, and in 1974 was elected chief executive officer of the bank and its holding company, First Kentucky National Corp. In 1987, the holding company merged with National City Corp., in Cleveland, and Miles was elected president. He retired in 1990.
Chief among Miles’ many civic interests was the Boy Scouts. He served as president of the Kentucky Council for two terms and received the Silver Beaver award for his longtime service. He served as president of the Louisville Central Area downtown development organization, the Museum of History and Science and the Greater Louisville Fund for the Arts, to name just a few organizations that benefited from his involvement. He had been a trustee of the University of Kentucky and the president of the University of Kentucky Business School Foundation, and was an honorary member of Beta Gamma Sigma business fraternity. He was a former member of the board of overseers of the University of Louisville and a former trustee of the Diocese of Kentucky.
He also bred and raced Thoroughbreds. His horse Neck ‘N Neck was entered in a May 1 race at Churchill Downs.
Miles is survived by his daughter, Elizabeth Miles Mitzlaff, a member of W&L’s Class of 1989, and her husband, Ted K. Mitzlaff; his wife, Dorothy L. Deane Miles; three grandchildren; and three stepchildren. He was preceded in death by his first wife, Ann Berry Houston Miles; his son, Frank Houston Miles; and his second wife, Noel Parker McKissick.
A memorial service will be held on Monday, May 4, at 2:30 p.m., at St. Francis in the Fields Episcopal Church, Harrods Creek, Kentucky. Visitation will follow at the church. The burial in Cave Hill Cemetery will be private.
You may read his obituary in the Louisville Courier-Journal.
