Tom Miller, ‘Baja Book’ Author, Fisherman, Dies

HUNTINGTON BEACH — Tom Miller, who wrote the “Baja Book,” a literary guide for thousands of tourists, died Wednesday at his residence, according to a family friend. He was 64.

Elmar Baxter, who co-authored the “Baja Book,” said Miller had been found to be suffering incurable lung cancer in 1991.

After writing half a dozen books on Mexico, where he had several homes, Miller became widely known among Southern California sports and travel writers as the “man who knows Baja best.”

Born in Pomona, Miller attended Caltech in Pasadena and the University of Idaho.

He was a columnist for 19 years for Western Outdoor News and wrote about fishing and his travels in Mexico.

Miller chronicled his travels in a four-wheel-drive vehicle before Baja California’s 1,000-mile Mexico Highway, also known as La Carretera Transpeninsular Benito Juarez, was completed in 1973.

Baxter said the “Baja Book,” which was the first motorist’s hand guide for Baja, has sold more than 200,000 copies.

An avid fisherman, Miller held many spin-fishing records on light line. In 1975 he founded the Mexico West Travel Club.

Miller wrote a string of books on fish and Mexico, including the “World of the California Gray Whale,” “The Angler’s Guide to Baja, California” and “Eating Your Way Through Baja.”

In 1991, two weeks before doctors said he had cancer, he and his wife, Carol Hoffman, published “Mexico West Book,” a road and recreation guide to Mexico’s western states.

Cremation services will be private. Baxter said Miller’s friends and family will scatter his ashes off Cabo San Lucas.

Miller is survived by his widow, Carol, of Huntington Beach; a son, Thomas E. Miller of Fountain Valley; a daughter, Diana Johnson of Buckeye, Ariz., and a brother, Chuck Miller of Costa Rica.

Donations may be sent to Hoag Hospital Cancer Center, in care of Sue Wynn, 301 Newport Blvd., Newport Beach, 92658.