Charles Miner Jr., 96, Banker, Combat Pilot

Charles Miner Jr., who was an assistant vice president of finance for the New York Central Railroad and an investment banker at Dean Witter, died of heart failure on March 19 at his home in Vero Beach, Fla. He was 96 years old.

Mr. Miner, who was called Chas as well as Charlie, was born on Dec. 13, 1921, in New York City to Charles Miner and the former Mary Louise Woodin.  William Woodin, an East Hampton resident who served as treasury secretary under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and was the founding chairman of Guild Hall, was his grandfather.

Raised in Manhattan, Mr. Miner attended the Buckley School there, Choate, a preparatory school in Wallington, Conn., and Princeton University, from which he graduated in 1943. 

He was a member of the Army Air Corps during World War II, first serving as a test pilot at a base in Charlotte, N.C., and then going on 18 combat missions in the Mediterranean during the war. At an officers club in Charlotte, a friend introduced him to Mae Hoffman, to whom he was married in 1944. The marriage lasted nearly 65 years until her death. 

A longtime resident of Darien, Conn., Mr. Miner was on the board of the King School in Stamford, Conn., and a member of the Wee Burn Country Club. He spent his summer months in East Hampton, where he was a member of the Maidstone and Devon Yacht Clubs.

His family said he enjoyed golf, tennis, ice hockey, and playing the piano.

They also noted that “he had a wonderful sense of humor and a creative mind which was always sharp as a tack.” 

In 1986, he moved from Darien to Vero Beach, where he became a director of the Riomar Country Club and raised money for the Riverside Theater. He served as president of the Princeton Blub in Vero.

Mr. Miner is survived by his children, Charmaine Caldwell of East Hampton, Mary M. Rude-Bell of Vero Beach, and Dr. Charles Miner III of Fairfield, Conn., as well as by six children and six great-grandchildren. A sister, Anne Woodin Miner St. Phillip, died before him. 

A celebration of Mr. Miner’s life will take place at St. Paul’s Church in Vero Beach, with the Rev. Jon Robbins officiating, on May 3. The family has suggested memorial donations to St. Paul’s Church, 999 Flamevine Lane, Vero Beach, Fla. 32963. 

A memorial service is planned for this summer at the Maidstone Club.