Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller was just out at the Germantown Juneteenth Festival a couple of weeks ago, enjoying the day with her grandchildren and daughter, and now, she has made her transition. It’s hard to believe she’s gone when so many of her friends and supporters just saw her, like the other day.
In my book, Donna Reed Miller was some kind of special. One of the things I most appreciated about her was that what you see is what you get with her–there wasn’t any fakeness about her. She was real, and she cared about the people of the city of Philadelphia and was a fighter for them.
Donna Reed Miller came up the old-school way, through the ranks of politics. She became a part of a powerful Northwest Philadelphia political machine led by the likes of the late PA State Representative David P. Richardson, then PA State Representative Dwight Evans (now Congressman Evans), former City Councilman John White Jr., former City Councilwoman Marian B. Tasco, John Myers, who worked for PA State Rep. David P. Richardson before he later on became a State Representative himself, PA State Senator LeAnna Washington and a host of others. There was Denis Montague. There was Mjenzi Traylor and his wife Fasaha. There was the late Bill Miller and his wife, Linda Miller. These were some of the key names who were part of the mighty Northwest political movement back in the day. Donna Reed Miller was part of all of that and, for many years, was the 59th District Ward Leader in Philadelphia.
“I know that Councilmember Reed Miller came from a long line of community organizing greats who fought for social, racial, and economic justice before it was a popular thing to do,” Mayor Parker said in a release Friday. Mayor Cherelle Parker remembered her as someone who “worked on criminal justice reform on issues like ban-the-box legislation and gun violence prevention through stronger gun laws for Philadelphia.”
Parker said Miller worked tirelessly for her election as the first Black woman to become mayor of Philadelphia, adding that she will miss her deeply.
Donna was born on September 29, 1946, and passed on June 28, 2024. She served as a Democrat on Philadelphia City Council from 1996 to 2012.
During the early part of her political career, Miller was mentored by Pennsylvania State House of Representatives member David P. Richardson Jr. She was a graduate of Germantown High School and former recreation specialist with The Philadelphia Department of Parks and Recreation who rose to political prominence through positions as executive director of the Greater Germantown Youth Corporation and on various Democratic Party committees.
Miller represented Council’s Eighth District, which is comprised of neighborhoods from Chestnut Hill and Mt. Airy through Germantown to Nicetown-Tioga.
In 2007, she played a highly visible role in Council’s threat to withhold funding for a multimillion-dollar expansion of the Philadelphia Convention Center if minority hiring was not improved.
In 2007 and 2009, she collaborated with fellow council member Darrell L. Clarke to shepherd several gun safety measures through passage by the Council and then through their respective court challenges in order to ensure that gun owners whose guns were lost or stolen would be required to report those missing weapons, that those with domestic violence restraining orders placed against them would be prohibited from owning weapons, and that anyone who had been deemed a danger to the community would also be prohibited from owning guns.
After serving five terms on the city council, Miller announced in January 2011 that she would not seek reelection, explaining that it was “time to give another person the opportunity to represent this wonderful district” and adding: “I never believed this position to be a lifetime job, and though I know I have the political and physical ability to serve, it is the right time for me to move into another type of public service.”
Every time Donna Reed Miller ran for reelection, there were those who lined up to run against her, but every election cycle, she beat back all her opponents. There were people who loved her, and like all of us, she had her detractors. Her detractors, I believe, were simply people who didn’t want to see a Black woman representing the 8th Council district. No matter what Donna did–she could bring home ten billion dollars to her council district, and someone would still have something negative to say about her. To Donna’s credit, she never let her detractors get her down. She always kept her eyes on the prize, and that was the 8th Council District, and bringing services to the people who needed the services the most.
While Donna spoke with a soft voice and she wasn’t a flashy type of personality, she made things happen and got things accomplished–while she was an elected official, before becoming an elected official, and even once she retired.
Donna was so beloved by her family and friends. She is survived by her daughter, Shakira Miller-Grier, her son-in-law, her two grandchildren, her husband, and a host of other family and friends.
At the time of publication of this article, we do not have information on the homegoing service for Councilwoman Miller.
Our sincere condolences to the family of Donna Reed Miller.
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