Ronald F. Miller, 82, of Winchester died on June 24, 2026.

Ron was born November 4, 1943, in Winchester, VA., the son of Gladys Bott Miller and James Mong Miller, the progenitor of the Miller Automotive Group. He grew up in a small house on South Street in Winchester, where he shared a room with his three brothers, James M. Miller, Jr., George L. Miller, and John C. Miller. When he was 14, Ron often rode with off duty Winchester police officers to Washington, D.C. and drove cars back to Winchester for sale by the family business.

When Ron was only 13, he started dating the love of his life, Sandy Fries. Ron and Sandy went to high school together at John Handley High School. Sandy graduated in 1960 and Ron graduated in 1963. The two married on December 15, 1963, and enjoyed a 55-year marriage until Sandy’s death on May 1, 2019. Together they had and are survived by two children: Todd F. Miller (Brenda) and Stacey M. Iden (Alex); five grandchildren: T. Austin Miller (Sarah), Spencer Miller, Morgan B. Hinkle, Emily L. Iden, and Samuel A. Iden; and two great grandchildren: Camden Hinkle and Ruby Miller.

Ron is also survived by his brother, James M. Miller, Jr. (Anne Marie), his brother John’s widow, Joan Miller, his nephews and nieces, Chris Miller (Christa), Matt Miller (Jessica), Megan Miller, Josh Miller (Aly), Nikki Miller, Lori Dulyea (Dan), Joel Fries (Michelle), Gary Fries, Jr. (Jenn), 5 great nieces and 3 great nephews. His wife, Sandy, his parents, his brother George and his wife, Donna, and brother, John, predeceased him.

Ron’s almost 50-year banking career began in 1963 when his mother took him down to the Commercial and Savings (C&S) Bank on Piccadilly Street in Winchester and asked if there wasn’t something they could find for this boy to do. They did. Ron’s first banking job was to sort the checks the bank received each day and get them delivered to the other Winchester banks for payment. Over the years his responsibilities increased. By the time Ron left C&S bank in 1972, he was an assistant vice president.

Ron moved the family to Leesburg, Va. in 1972 where he was vice president and cashier at North American Bank and Trust. He left that job in 1975 to return to the Winchester area to form the Bank of Frederick County in Stephens City, Va., where he served as president and CEO until 1982. During his time there, the Bank of Frederick County became First Virginia Bank of Frederick County. In 1982, Ron accepted the position of president and CEO of First Bank in Strasburg, Va., where he remained until 1998.

In 1998, Ron once again used his considerable banking/business acumen and personal charm to not only form a new bank but to recreate an old one, Shenandoah Valley National Bank (SVNB) in Winchester, Va., where he served as president and CEO. SVNB later became Summit Community Bank which later merged with Burke & Herbert Bank. Together, Ron and Sandy directed the design and furnishing of the new SVNB’s main office at 100 W. Jubal Early in Winchester.

Also in 1998, Ron joined the Summit Financial Group Board of Directors where he served until 2011. He was a member of Summit’s banking subsidiary board of directors from 1998 to 2011, as well as its president and CEO. Encouraged by his success in reviving SVNB, Ron spearheaded Summit’s reviving of other old bank names with the opening of Loudoun National Bank in Leesburg, Va. in 2002, Rockingham National Bank in Harrisonburg, VA. in 2004, and People’s National Bank in Warrenton, Va. in 2005. After his retirement, Ron continued to serve the employees of Summit Financial Group as a trustee of its Employee Stock Option Plan until April 2022.

Ron was a graduate of the American Institute of Banking, LSU’s Graduate School of Banking, and the University of Texas’ Graduate School of Bank Management. He was a member of the board of directors of the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA), ICBA Bancard, and the Virginia Bankers Association. Ron served as chair of ICBA’s education committee, president of the Virginia Association of Community Banks, chair of the Institute of Financial Education, chair of Virginia Banker’s Association’s Banking School Trustees, and chair of the board of directors of the Virginia Banker’s Bank. One time when he was making a banking presentation in Washington, D.C., Ron was delighted to be referred to as President Miller.

Ron contributed his musical talent to the community through singing in a barbershop quartet, in the Winchester Medical Center Auxiliary Follies, and at First Presbyterian Church in Winchester, where he served as the church treasurer for 11 years. Ron was president of the Northern Shenandoah Valley Community Development Corp, vice chairman of Shenandoah Memorial Hospital’s Board, a member of the Shenandoah County Industrial Development Authority, on the executive council of the Shenandoah Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America, and on the board of directors of the Shenandoah County Library Foundation.

Ron was a businessman and a busy man. His favorite icebreaker question was, “are you staying busy?” He and Sandy bought and managed the Bond’s Motel on Valley Avenue in Winchester in the 1970s. Ron owned Storekeeper’s Pride, Inc., a business that sold country hams to retail outlets, from 1982 to 2008. In addition to his personal real estate investments, Ron formed MC Company with Ben Crim. That company owned Benji’s in Berryville and the neighboring laundromat in the 1980s and 1990s.

Ron was a proud graduate of John Handley High School and supporter of the Judges’ Athletic Association. He played football for Handley as a guard and was honored to be inducted into the Hunter Maddex Hall of Fame in 2012. Since 1999 Ron was a member of the Winchester Rotary Club of Winchester. He was a former member and past president of the Strasburg Rotary Club, and multiple Paul Harris fellow.

Ron would often say, “I have always been lucky.” Indeed, he was. In many ways he made his own luck. He worked hard, played hard, and seized opportunities that others might not have had the vision to see or the courage to tackle. He loved life and people. He would turn around on elevators and address his fellow travelers. He extended his hand to everyone he met, saying “Hi, Ron Miller.” On business trips he would crash weddings and make sure that he danced with the bride. He did not allow an Alzheimer’s diagnosis to define or impede him. He never gave up. In the words of Tennyson’s “Ulysses,” his heroic heart was “Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will / To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”

A funeral service will be held at 1 p.m. on Thursday, July 2, 2026, at First Presbyterian Church, 116 S. Loudoun Street, Winchester. Interment will follow at Mount Hebron Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Godfrey Miller Center, 28 S. Loudoun Street, Winchester, VA 22601 or to Highland Food Pantry, 446 Highland Ave., Winchester, VA 22601.