Larry Miller is undoubtedly one of the best-known names attached to one of the most familiar faces in the state. Most of us, indeed, feel we know the man.

And, since many feel he's our Larry Miller, owner of our Utah Jazz, and the man who has sold many of us a car or two, or three, we feel personally affected by the ailing Miller's decision to hand over the reins of his many companies to his eldest son, Greg Miller.

We wish Larry Miller well and hope he recovers soon from the ravages of advanced diabetes that have required a lengthy hospitalization and his move from CEO to chairman of a new governing board that will oversee his companies.

We aren't the first well-wishers to note that the son has extraordinarily huge shoes to fill. Greg Miller knows it, too. His father would probably be a Utah icon even if the New Orleans Jazz hadn't moved to Utah.

Larry Miller is a shrewd entrepreneur and workaholic who personally built a business empire that includes the country's 10th largest chain of auto dealerships; commercial real estate including, among other things, theaters, retail stores and a motorsports park. He also owns a television station to broadcast Jazz games; and, of course, the Utah Jazz basketball team and the EnergySolutions arena.

An auto-dealer competitor once said, "Larry Miller has done more for the state of Utah than anyone since Brigham Young." For many, it's a defensible statement.

Miller put his personal fortune on the line when he borrowed heavily to build the Jazz arena that allowed him to keep the team in Salt Lake City. The franchise recently was valued at $342 million. Clearly, though, his commitment to the Jazz is about much more than dollars and cents.

"I love Salt Lake City. It's a community I'm interested in giving something back to,'' Miller once told a Tribune reporter. In fact, the Jazz made Salt Lake City a major-league city in a way that, say, Albuquerque or Tucson are not. Perhaps more important, the team has created a cohesive community of devoted fans that is not divided by race, ethnicity or religion.

Larry Miller has been as good for Utah as Utah has been to him. He's rich, he's famous, but most of all he's intensely human, a man of tirades and tears and all between. We need him back courtside, cheering, howling and trash-talking.

Get well, Larry.