Michael "Mike" John Miller

10.28.1945 - 09.29.2026

Mike passed away with immense dignity, love, and peace in his home in Marietta, Georgia, surrounded by family who loved him dearly, on September 29, 2026 at age 80. While lung cancer was the medical cause of his death, Mike fundamentally died of a broken heart after caring for his soulmate and wife Judi, who passed seven months earlier.

Born and raised in New Prague, Minnesota, Mike is also preceded in death by his parents Wally and Hanna, sister Mary, brothers-in-law Joe Shuster, Bill and Tim Hennes, sister-in-law Mary Retterath, and son-in-law Tom Comsudes. He’s survived by his daughter Maria Comsudes and her children Gabrielle and Sam; his daughter Andrea Miller, her husband Sanjay Bhatnagar and their children, Nicolas and Alexander; his son Thomas and his wife Victoria; his sister Patricia Shuster; and his brother Bill Miller and his wife Ellie and his sister-in-law Joan and brother-in-law Ken Hennes - along with a throng of adoring nieces and nephews.

Somewhere between a Renaissance man and a Marlboro man, Mike lived the Hemmingway ideal of a man’s life. To the detriment of his studies - and with the help of his brother Bill - Mike fell in love with aviation at the age of 14 which led to a lifetime passion for going faster, farther, and higher. He was licensed as a flight instructor; a private and commercial pilot for single and multi-engine crafts with instrument qualifications. He was also an extremely accomplished aviation mechanic with airframe and power plant certifications.

At the age of 20, Mike enlisted in the Army. Due to a series of lost or rescinded orders for training in rotary wing (helicopter) piloting, Mike became an air traffic controller and control tower supervisor at Airfield K-16 outside of Seoul, Korea. Mike was honorably discharged at the rank of Specialist 5 in 1969. He was an extremely proud veteran and actively supported military personnel and causes throughout his post-service life.

After leaving military service, Mike founded a construction company with his brother Bill and eventually fell in love with stock car racing.

Mike moved his family to WI and joined the Central Wisconsin Racing Association (CWRA) where he raced alongside legends like Dick Trickle, Tom Refner, Larry Detjens, Alan Kulwicki, Mike Eddy, Bob Senneker, Scott Hansen, Mark Martin, Rusty and Kenny Wallace; and many other accomplished drivers who were among his dearest friends. One of his most prized accomplishments was pioneering the 9-to-1 compression engine, which revolutionized motorsports. After a brief time away from the sport, Mike started racing in the American Speed Association (ASA) circuit, America’s premier short track racing series, in the early 90s and ended his career with a total of 116 professional stock car wins across various promotions and is ninth in all-time ASA wins.

In the late 70s, Mike co-founded Cryogenic Services Incorporated (CSI) in Savage, MN. He and his partners decided to move the business to Ball Ground, GA, which also meant relocating his family to Georgia. CSI and its legacy companies build cryogenic tanks and piping for such clients as New York City, NASA, and BMW.

Mike became a partner at S&S Aviation - the managers of the Fixed Base Operation at the Cherokee County Airport (KCNI) - in the mid 80s and had the vision to develop it into a thriving, modern aviation facility. Along with his partners, Jimmy Garland and Coleman and Harriet Sutton, and under Mike’s leadership, S&S is one of the nation’s premier servicers of twin engine Cessnas and a fixture of the Southeast aviation community.

Over 300 people are employed in Cherokee County today thanks to businesses that Mike founded and built successfully. He was an old-school entrepreneur who built practical, profitable businesses that were extremely customer-focused. He was an excellent leader who had a cult following not just of racing fans but of the people that worked for and with him. Many claim that the times working with Mike were the best of their lives thanks to how much he cared, how much he taught them, and how much fun they had. Mike loved the competition and collaboration of racing - often lending parts or expertise to rival teams - and lived under the philosophy that “a bad day at the track was better than a good day in the shop.”

More than his motor and metal vocations, Mike’s great passion was being with and taking care of Judi. They were married 59 years - an accomplishment that he was quick to share with just about anyone he met in the last one year. They enjoyed travel - including being members of the West Indies Flyers, which led an historic private plane fly-in to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’s landing on Hispaniola - and spending time with their treasured friends and family across the U.S.

Ever the Renaissance man, Mike delighted in making homemade jam and tomato juice in epic quantities and pie-making later in life to help Judi maintain weight including apple, rhubarb, sour cherry, and blueberry - not to mention his “failed experiments.” While in Korea, Mike learned to play the acoustic guitar and loved strumming Peter, Paul & Mary tunes and listening to the superb vocal stylings of ABBA.

Mike relished being a father to Maria, Andrea, and Tom and grandfather to Gabi, Sam, Nic, and Alex. From making them crepes and sausage as a family breakfast tradition to teaching them how to shoot, craft wood, and change the oil on his beloved truck to playing tennis as though it was an epic battle to snuggling them when they were little, Mike truly loved them all and took great joy in the opportunity to guide, talk to and play with them.

Mike was the mayor of just about anywhere that welcomed his cowboy boots and sterling smile. He was the first person to jump in to help improve a process or solve a problem - especially if it was mechanical in nature. He had a giant, generous heart; could build just about anything and loved doing it. He enjoyed gifting beautiful wooden lamps, cutting boards, and coasters to friends and family. A man of immense integrity with an epic work ethic, Mike was the epitome of loyalty, fairness and dignity.

He was also a generous supporter of many causes near and dear to his heart, including the Atlanta Children’s Center, Tunnel to Towers, and St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital. Taking the race car to St. Jude’s and other children’s hospitals and allowing the kids to get in the car while he revved the engine was one of his greatest joys. The squealing delight of a sick 7-year old and roar of the #18 Pontiac’s motor drowned out any objections from the staff and left everyone with only one thing to say: “Gentlemen, start your engines!”

He loved it as much as the kids did, leading him to win an Humanitarian Award by Jani-King International, Inc.

Mike was graced with an unexpected gift of faith on the very last, full day of his life. As someone who lived most of his 80 years somewhere between an atheist and agnostic, he was confirmed Catholic on Sept 28th. He joyfully described finally feeling the presence of God within him. The experience was not short of a blissful, transformative experience for him.

Mike not only touched untold lives, but transformed a vast number of them. His legacy of love, fun, flying, building, baking, and driving fast (and turning left) lives on.

A Celebration of Life service is being held at the Cherokee County Airport, 1351 Bishop Road, at 3pm ET on October 17th with another to follow in May, 2027 in New Prague.

The family requests donations be made to a cause Mike passionately supported, Tunnel to Towers Foundation. Donations may be made online at t2t.org.

The caring staff of Darby Funeral Home is honored to serve the family of Mr. Michael "Mike" John Miller.