Page 12 - Volume 15 Number 3

Teledyne Battery Products Third Page 4/C Ad10 • ­TWIN & TURBINE MARCH 2011David MillerOwner, Citation MustangDavid and Patty Miller have spent most of their adult lives building things. He built his family’s automotive products business from a regional company into an international competitor. An expert in infant mental health, Patty helped restore the fragile lives of at-risk babies and their families. Now enjoying retirement, the Dallas couple is using their Citation Mustang to support several causes that have special meaning to them.Miller’s passion for aviation was ignited as a young boy when he scored a ride in a Cessna 140. As soon as he was old enough, Miller earned money for flight lessons, eventually attaining his pilot’s certificate at age 17. That piece of paper was handy for more than just flying; it helped him get a date with a lovely classmate named Patty. To impress her, he took her on a tour of the control tower at Redbird Airport (now known as Dallas Executive) and then out for a hot fudge sundae.“It must have worked because she ended up marrying me. We’ve been married 39 years now,” said Miller.After graduating from Southern Methodist University in 1974,Miller joined his father’s business, Auto Wax Company. Founded in 1960, the company manufactures and distributes car reconditioning chemicals that his father had been formulating in his garage since the mid-1950s. As a manufacturer of more than 100 products, the company sells a patented auto paint reconditioning product called Clay Magic, a favorite among car aficionados.Like his father, David possessed entrepreneurial skills and intuitive business savvy and seemingly endless energy. One of his first goals was to aggressively expand the company’s sales and distributor network. Aviation played a critical role in his plans. Early on, he rented single-engine aircraft to visit potential dealers.“We needed new distributors around the country. Instead of driving, I flew,” he said. “Our biggest expansion year was the one when I started using a general aviation airplane.”In 1979, the company bought a piston twin, which allowed David to bring new customers to Dallas for factory tours and meetings.