Dr. Dane Miller

That passing of Dr. Dane Miller on Feb. 10 was quite a blow to the communities of Warsaw and Winona Lake.

Miller, a co-founder of Biomet and selfless philanthropist, made many great contributions to Kosciusko County. Today, at a memorial service held at the Manahan Orthopaedic Capital Center friends, family and colleagues gathered to pay their respects.

Dr. William Katip, President of Grace College, Purdue University President Mitch Daniels, Congressman Marlin Stutzman, Professor Jack Lemons, Dr. Cheryl Blanchard, Lindsay Slocum, Warsaw Mayor Joe Thallemer, Dr. Ronald E. Manahan, Jean Northenor, Dan Hann, Greg Sasso, Levi John and Corinne Hodges will be speaking throughout the service.

The family requested no media coverage at the event. However, Grace College is providing a live stream of the proceedings.For those who missed the event and the live streaming, some of the sentiments shared by Miller’s numerous friends and colleagues are shared below:

“He set a great example of leadership and took much less for himself than he could have. All of my days I’m going to be immensely proud to count myself among the countless friends of Dane Miller.” – Mitch Daniels, former governor of Indiana.

“It’s a great honor to stand here to honor a great man. There is so much that could be said. It’s an honor to be called a friend and to see his life and what it stands for. There were two words I thought of and those were love and legacy… those are two things I thought of when I thought of Dane Miller… He is a wonderful man who loved the lord, loved his country and loved his family. We will be so grateful and so much better off for all that he did for us.” – Marlin Stutzman, Congressman of Indiana.

“Dane is recognized and respected in academic circles as a communicator, and thereby, an educator. As opposed to other educators that only talk about things, he was a man of action.” – Professor Jack Lemons, University of Alabama Birmingham.

Dane was a tenacious visionary. He built a company that valued family and legacy…While the orthopedics industry has lost a great leader, his legacy will live on forever.” – Dr. Cheryl Blanchard, former Chief Scientific Officer at Zimmer and founding board chair of OrthoWorx.

“Dane’s knowledge of synergy as it pertained to the combination of different metals often resulted in a better product. But he also knew that the collaboration of ideas, resources, individuals and growths in the community always resulted in a better community… Dr. Dane Miller, by his philanthropy, has set an example of generosity of time, talent and treasure to create community synergy. – Joe Thallemer, Mayor of Warsaw.

“For 25 years I have admired Millers. Their loyalty to others and our community has made a remarkable difference in the lives of so many of us…You made a long commitment to Winona lake and the surrounding area. Your commitment will not be forgotten.” – Dr. Ronald E. Manahan, former president of Grace College & Seminary.

“The Dane that I knew… I always knew he was a wealthy entrepreneur and community activist… I knew that but didn’t pay much attention to it. I didn’t want anything from him but his friendship. To me he was a dear friend that I picked on unmercifully at every opportunity knowing that he would always get even, and he did. To know Dane was to love him, I understood friendship and that was all about Dane.” – Jean Northenor, retired director of Lake City Bank.

“I miss him terribly and can’t imagine life without him. Dane was larger than life and now there is a void in this world that will never be filled for all of us… No one could ever have a more loyal, faithful and supportive friend than Dane…Over the past few days I’ve talked to so many people who have very personal stories on how Dane changed or impacted thier lives or a loved one. Dane was humble but he had the necessary ego and confidence to be a great CEO. He was gentle but he had the competitive toughness and leadership to make Biomet an industry leader.” – Dan Hann, Senior Vice President, Business Development at Biomet.

“As I said earlier, and I was lucky to hear most of them multiple times… Dane was always extremely positive and optimistic. He also always saw the best in people and tried very hard to find ways to incorporate that team members strengths in Biomet. Please remember that Dane Miller created the contemporary orthopedic implant market through his research activities in graduate school and beyond and the formation of Biomet to introduce these new technologies and implants to the market place. Please keep his memory and legacy alive by continuing to tell the stories of this great man.” – Greg Sasso, former senior executive at Biomet.