Services for former state lawmaker Ray Miller will be held at Second Baptist Church in Columbus, his family announced.
The family will receive guests beginning at 5 p.m. and a community tribute is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. Friday Sept. 4 at the church.
A memorial service is scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday Sept. 5 at the church. The family will begin receiving guests at 10 a.m.
Miller, who served 24 years in the Ohio General Assembly, died Aug. 28 at the age of 77.
Miller, a Democrat from Columbus, served in the Ohio House and Senate from 1981 to 2010, except for a five-year hiatus in the mid-90s.
He worked to create the state behavioral health department and the Ohio Commission on Minority Health. The Ohio Statehouse includes a room dedicated to George Washington Williams, the first Black state legislator, because of Miller's lobbying. Miller also pushed Ohio to earmark 25% of the $10 billion tobacco settlement for minority health initiatives.
Miller founded The Columbus African American News Journal in 2011, which grew into the largest minority-focused print publication in central Ohio.
Miller graduated from Columbus East High School and earned bachelor's and graduate degrees from Ohio State University.
Miller is survived by his wife, Marty, and their son Ray III.
State government reporter Laura Bischoff can be reached at [email protected] and @lbischoff on X.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Services set for longtime Columbus state lawmaker Ray Miller