Nike executive Larry Miller has admitted that he did not tell the family of the boy he murdered on the streets of West Philadelphia in 1965 he was publishing a book about the killing, as multiple members of the victims family say they’d forgiven him.
Miller, 72, who released a book detailing the killing earlier this year after revealing he had killed 18-year-old Edward White in October, told CNN Monday that while has felt guilt for the gang-related killing every day for the past 56 years, he has also been filled with regret for failing to reach out to the dead man’s family before he went public with the secret.
The successful business exec acknowledged that he should have contacted the family about his plans to publish Jump: My Secret Journey from the Streets to the Boardroom, after telling The New York Times last month that he held off because he ‘was nervous about it, I was anxious about it.’
He now told CNN that he was protecting the family’s privacy. DailyMail.com has contacted White’s sister, son and daughter for further comment.
‘We are definitely in the process of trying to connect with them and make sure that they feel some healing out of this as well,’ the founder of the Jordan faction of the footwear company – and a close friend of its namesake Michael Jordan – told the outlet in an exclusive interview.
‘You know, to me, if we can come up with a way to memorialize Mr. White, so that he isn’t someone that’s just forgotten, then this would be a positive.’
Nike executive Larry Miller has admitted that he did not tell the family of the boy he murdered on the streets of West Philadelphia in 1965 he was publishing a book about the killing
Miller was 16 when he killed White in gang-related shooting at the corner of 53rd and Locust Streets the night of September 30, 1965.
He served just 4.5 years for the crime, and has since seen his career as a business executive blossom to astronomical heights.
Miller has met with White’s relatives just twice since coming forward about the killing late last year in an interview with Sports Illustrated, an attorney for the family told the outlet.
According to Philadelphia-based litigation lawyer Ronald Marrero, during the latter of these meetings, in January, Miller apologized for not reaching out prior to the book’s publishing, to which White’s sister, Barbara Mack, replied that she forgave the business mogul, who served as the president of the Portland Trailblazers from 2007 to 2012.
During the meeting, held at Marrero’s office, Mack, 84, said, ‘I must forgive in order to be forgiven,’ according to the attorney.
Miller was 16 when he killed White in gang-related shooting at the corner of 53rd and Locust Streets in West Philadelphia (pictured) the night of September 30, 1965
Miller decided to share his story in the newly released book Jump: My Secret Journey from the Streets to the Boardroom that he co-wrote with his daughter, Laila Lacy. He acknowledged Monday that he should have contacted the family about his plans to publish Jump: My Secret Journey from the Streets to the Boardroom, after telling The New York Times last month that he held off because he ‘was nervous about it, I was anxious about it’
Mack said during the first meeting that she read Miller a letter about her younger brother, telling him about White’s twin sister, young son and baby on the way at the time he was killed.
She also told Miller about her younger brother’s job at a diner, that he attended Job Corps training and all about his ‘swag’ – which included his love of fedoras and The Temptations.
Mack told The Times that she chose to forgive Miller for the murder because ‘if I didn’t forgive him, God wouldn’t forgive me.’
According to Mack, Miller apologized and teared up through out the meeting and by the end when he asked if he could hug her she agreed but told him ‘If I was 30 years younger, I would have been across that table at you.’
Miller has met with White’s relatives just twice since coming forward about the killing late last year in an interview with Sports Illustrated, an attorney for the family revealed. During the latter of these meetings, in January, Miller was forgiven by family members
Miller says he took to the streets drunkenly and in search of revenge after one of his friends and fellow gang members was fatally stabbed by a member of the rival 53rd and Pine gang.
The business tycoon didn’t know White but wanted to avenge the murder of a fellow gang member, and says he ended up shooting and killing the first person he saw.
White did nothing to provoke him and died on the spot after being shot with a .38 Miller had gotten from his girlfriend.
Miller decided to share his story in his book, which he co-wrote with his daughter, Laila Lacy.
Miller told The Times that he hoped the meeting allowed for White’s family to feel his ‘remorse and sorrow for what happened,’ and said Mack’s comments about coming after him if she were younger ‘was an appropriate comment from my perspective.’
Mack told The Times she did not attend last week’s second meeting where preliminary discussions about establishing a scholarship foundation in White’s name were discussed because ‘I don’t have to see him anymore.’
The foundation would help White’s family members and others attend college and trade school, and, according to White’s daughter Azizah Arline, ensure that her father ‘did not die in vain.’
Miller said that while the details had not been worked out, ‘I think we have agreed that we wanted to do something that allows his name to live on and something that also is a benefit and positive to other folks that come from our community.’
Arline told The Times that she plans to hold Miller accountable.
Miller, 72, has since had a successful career, now the founder of the Jordan faction of the footwear company – and a close friend of its namesake Michael Jordan
‘I will call him on the carpet every single time,’ she said, to ensure ‘that this legacy for my father comes to fruition.’
Arline also reprised the letter she read to Miller during the meeting, in which she said that ‘it wasn’t fair,’ that she never got to meet her father, or ‘to see him smile or hear his voice,’ to have him ‘give me away at my wedding’ or to see him welcome his grandchildren.
She told him about how her mother planned on marrying White but instead was forced to be a single mother who struggled to make ends meet.
She added that learning the details about how he actually died made it ‘as if we’ve lost him twice in one lifetime.’
White’s 56-year-old son Hasan Adams said he also forgave Miller.
