Doug Mills, the 2014 Person of the Year

Lifelong Merokean Doug Mills started working in the back shop of the Printing Emporium, on Merrick Avenue in downtown Merrick, at age 14, as a printer’s apprentice, learning the trade from the ground up. By age 19, he owned the business.

For three decades, Mills has worked steadily –– and intensely –– to grow his business. He also applies that same ferocity to helping the Merrick-Bellmore community prosper. “He’s a go-getter. He’s a real go-getter,” said Mary Pallotta, president and chairwoman of the Bellmore-based Guardian Brain Foundation, one of the many charitable organizations that Mills supports. “He’s always involved in helping the community.”

In November, the Herald Life posted a request on social media seeking nomination letters for our annual Person of the Year. The name that came up again and again was Doug Mills. Universally, people said he just gives and gives, without thought to himself, without seeking publicity for his business. For the inordinate amount of volunteer work he does on behalf of his hometown and surrounding communities, we are pleased to recognize him as our Person of the Year.

Mills said he abides by a simple philosophy: Small, local charities are most effective in changing the world for the better because they are not burdened by bureaucracies. Their interest lies not in self-promotion, but in helping average people. He is happy, he said, to help Bellmore-Merrick charities whenever he can.

And that he does.

Much of his volunteer work centers on the Merrick Kiwanis Club and the Chamber of Commerce, both of which have raised tens of thousands of dollars for those in need over the years. Really, though, his work with these organizations is just the beginning.