The Sarasota arts community lost a giant with the passing of Howard Millman last week at the age of 93.

To those who worked with him—whether in his roles at the Asolo Repertory Theatre, where he was producing artistic director for many years; as a sometime performer and frequent director there and elsewhere; or as a mentor whose love for the theater he shared with others for decades—Millman was a guiding light. To those who got to know him offstage as well, he was a mensch.

Millman was born in Brooklyn, New York, attending Hartwick College and later gaining advanced degrees in theater from Purdue University and Florida State University. In 1968, he became managing director for what was then called the Asolo Theater Festival, a position he held for a dozen years before heading north to become executive director of the Pittsburgh Public Theater. He next moved on to become producing artistic director of Geva Theatre in Rochester, New York, where he was crucial to that company’s growth and success in a new facility.

But for many Sarasotans, the most significant part he ever played was upon his return to the Asolo in 1995. At that time, the company was in dire straits, having lost patron support with some unpopular changes under the leadership of then-artistic director Megs Booker. The theater’s longtime rotating repertory system had been dropped, actors well-liked by audiences had been replaced and there was considerable doubt that the Asolo could manage to regain solid financial footing.

Millman worked tirelessly from day one to bring back the rep and its resident actors and to rebuild relationships with donors. Aided by a new and committed board of directors, he was able to save the Asolo from the brink of disaster, making him something of a miracle man in the company’s history. He often spoke of the theater’s mission to produce shows “of size, of color and of incident,” and he did just that with bold productions, like a musical version of Jane Eyre; a vast and triumphant undertaking of The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, featuring more than 20 actors; a memorably epic offering of generations-spanning The Kentucky Cycle, Parts I and II; and a work especially close to his Jewish heritage, The Immigrant—just a few of the many productions he championed.

Millman stepped down from the Asolo in 2006, but he wasn’t done with the theater world. He'd long supported Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe’s founding director Nate Jacobs from Jacobs’ earlier acting days. In Millman's “retirement,” he joined the board of trustees of the troupe, providing a major boost to Jacobs in his dreams for the company, which recently celebrated its 25^th anniversary. He also became involved with the Sarasota Jewish Theatre, as did his wife, actress Carolyn Michel.

Michel and Millman married in 2000. It was a later-in-life romance for both of them, one that involved working together in the theater here, both onstage (in productions of The Sisters Rosensweig and The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife, for example) and with Millman directing Michel in plays like Driving Miss Daisy at Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe in 2016. (A small black-box theater space at the theater bears Millman’s name.) Their relationship also involved extensive travel abroad, and, always, regular attendance at the theater.

Millman was preceded in death by his daughter, actress Devora Millman, and his sister, Barbara Goldsmith. Along with Michel, he leaves behind his son David and daughter-in-law, Paula; granddaughter Jessica Millman; and extended family members.

A public celebration of Millman’s accomplished life will take place in the spring, with a date to be announced. But for theater lovers here and in other cities where Millman left a lasting artistic legacy, a quiet celebration takes place any time they step into a theater he nourished.

Memorial donations in Millman’s name may be made to the Sarasota Jewish Theatre, Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe or Asolo Repertory Theater.