After suffering a heart attack June 10, spending 59 days in the hospital last summer and having his lower legs amputated Jan. 23, Larry Miller "gave it his all before he gave up the ghost" in the words of his oldest son and successor.

The 64-year-old Jazz owner had believed last month's amputation would help him turn the corner in his eight-month battle against diabetes-related health complications. Instead, Miller's recovery was compromised by a rare disease that wouldn't allow his body to heal.

Miller learned eight days ago he was suffering from calciphylaxis, a disease that left calcium deposits in his blood vessels, leading to tissue death. Instead of healing after the amputation, he watched as infection and ulcers crept up his thighs and into his fingers.

"That really I think was what made it clear to Larry that at that point he had fought all he could fight," said Dr. Bill Dunson, Miller's physician at the Huntsman Cancer Institute, "we had done everything we could do, and it really was time to take a different approach."

After his father came to grips with the news, Greg Miller said he made two decisions -- first to call a meeting with his management team Monday morning in the hospital -- and then to spend his final days at home.

"Once he internalized it, he just went about it very methodically," Greg Miller said. "He knew what he needed to do. He knew what the important issues were, at least in his mind, that needed to be wrapped up."

Jazz president Randy Rigby described the hospital meeting with Miller and his closest business advisors as "one of the choicest experiences in my life."

"What touched me is he said, 'You know what? We've done some special things together and I couldn't have asked for a better group to do it with,'" Rigby said.

Miller said he would miss not being around for the future fights in the business and sports worlds. "I said, 'Larry, when we get this NBA championship, it's going to be for you. I expect you to be able to enjoy it with us,' " Rigby said.

Gail Miller said she and her husband watched a video on the building of EnergySolutions Arena and took stock of some of life's accomplishments in the final days.

"It's interesting to look at the strength he had, the vision he had, the character he had, the desire to just do good things," Gail Miller said. "He wore himself out in doing it."

The decision to amputate his legs six inches below the knee was supposed to free Miller from the doctor's visits, rehab work and dialysis sessions that had become a constant since he was hospitalized last summer.

"There was no quality of life to live and have something other than treatment at the doctor's office," Gail Miller said. "The amputation was a hopeful step that he could get prosthetics and do rehab and learn to walk again and move on."

Miller was able to enjoy the Jazz's victories over the L.A. Lakers and Boston in the last two weeks. After beating the Lakers, Greg Miller said, "He said, plain and simple, 'That's one for the good guys.' He was competitive even there in his hospital bed."

He spent Thursday night resting after seeing visitors until 5 p.m., but Gail Miller said she told him about the victory over Boston. Miller had a one-word response: "Yes!"

Even in his final week, Greg Miller described his father as "teaching and leading to the end." Greg Miller picked up a notebook last weekend at the All-Star Game in Phoenix and said he filled 20 pages with words of wisdom and encouragement from his father.

"It's like I said during the family gathering there," Greg Miller said. "I hope my death goes as smoothly and beautifully as his did."

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