Richard S. Miller, interviewed May 14, 1985, discusses the Institute of Ecology, including its origins, its approaches to research, its relationship with colleges and universities, its structural and funding challenges, and its demise. Dr. Miller was born July 4, 1922, in Cleveland, Ohio. He went to grade school in California before enlisting in the US Air Force in 1942 until 1946, when he entered the University of Colorado. He completed his B.A. with honors in 1949, and later received a Fulbright Scholarship to Oxford University, England, where he earned his Ph.D. in population ecology in 1951. Dr. Miller returned to the States and taught at many universities including Harvard, Yale, Colorado State University, and the University of Saskatchewan. In addition, he served in many different roles in the Ecological Society of America, which led to the establishment of the Institute of Ecology.