New Mexico's 'Big Mac' dies.(Afternoon)(Obituary)

Byline: Iliana Limon ILIMON@ABQTRIB.COM / 823-3632

Colin McMillan looked happiest riding his bicycle through the streets of Roswell next to his wife as the sun set behind them.

It's a sight Sen. Tim Jennings remembers well because the McMillans often rode past his home in the eastern New Mexico city.

"That's how I'll always remember him, as a man who loved his beautiful wife and knew it was always family that mattered most," said Jennings, a Roswell Democrat. "They represented all the joy and good fortune that could come out of our small corner of the state."

McMillan, a successful oilman, former state legislator and influential Republican leader, was found dead at his Otero County ranch Thursday afternoon. He was 67.

The Otero County Sheriff's Department and close friends of McMillan would not release the cause or manner of death late Thursday night.

McMillan was born in Texas and came to Roswell in the 1960s where he ran Permian Exploration Corp. The former Marine and former assistant U.S. defense secretary was nominated by President Bush as secretary of the Navy in May and was going through the process of awaiting confirmation at the time of his death.

Roswell Mayor Bill Owen, a longtime McMillan employee and family spokesman, said he expected the Office of Medical Investigator in …