A food chemist, Miller spent a 41-year career with the Campbell Soup Company. Few know who he is, but most know the products he worked on: Spaghetti-Os (introduced in 1965), Chunky soups (1970), and Prego spaghetti sauce (1981), among others.
“These things aren’t developed completely in a vacuum. It’s a team effort,” said a Campbell’s spokesman. “But he was instrumental in development of [them].” Even Miller’s wife, whom he met in high school, didn’t know about Spaghetti-Os right off. “I don’t even think he ever told me that they were inventing Spaghetti-Os until three or four years after they did it,” Lucille Miller said. “I knew that the paycheck changed, however.” Miller died June 9 in Ormond Beach, Fla., from longtime heart problems. He was 73.