Melvin Lee Milligan II enlisted in the U.S. Army at the age of 18, was trained at M.I.T. in meteorology and served throughout World War II as a weather officer. During the Korean War he was an attorney in the Judge Advocate's Corps, retiring with the rank of USAF Captain.

A member of the Harvard College class of 1945 and Harvard Law School class of 1949, Mel Milligan served as corporate counsel for the Studebaker-Packard Corporation, Trans World Airlines and Hilton International.

As Vice President and General Counsel of TWA he represented minority shareholders in their successful suit against Howard Hughes, leading Hughes to divest his 78% shareholding. In 1966 Mr. Milligan argued TWA's case for damages before the Supreme Court, where TWA won by default the largest civil award to that date ($137 million) when Mr. Hughes declined to testify in person.

From 1969 to 1971 Mr. Milligan was Assistant Director General of Saudia Airlines, resident in Jeddah, where he trained Saudis in airline management. He later lived and worked in Cairo, Egypt and Kuwait, where he was legal advisor to the Gulf International Group, a Kuwaiti investment company.

Mr. Milligan was considered an expert in Middle Eastern history and culture and the European exploration of Africa. He travelled widely and was a fellow of the Royal Geographic Society, F.R.G.S.