Richard Ellis (biologist): Difference between revisions - Wikipedia


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{{Short description|American painter (1938–2024)}}

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{{sources|date=April 2008}}

'''Richard Ellis''' (April 2, 1938 – May 21, 2024) was an American [[marine biologist]], author, and illustrator. He iswas a research associate in the [[American Museum of Natural History]]'s division of [[paleontology]],<ref>{{cite web |url=httphttps://www.nbcnews.com/id/35584261wbna35584261 |title=Whale trainer death tied to mating, isolation |publisher=[[NBC News]] |date=2010-02-February 25, 2010 |access-date=2016-09-September 20, 2016 |archive-date=July 5, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210705100435/https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna35584261 |url-status=live }}</ref> special adviser to the [[American Cetacean Society]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Richard Ellis, ME '68 |url=https://kansaspress.ku.edu/author/richard-ellis/ |access-date=2024-05-May 30, 2024 |websitepublisher=University Press of Kansas |language=en-US |archive-date=March 27, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230327175734/https://kansaspress.ku.edu/author/richard-ellis/ |url-status=live }}</ref> and a member of the [[Explorers Club]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|title=The Explorers Club|url=https://www.explorers.org/about/richard_ellis|access-date=July 5, 2021-07-05|website=www.explorers.org |archive-date=June 29, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160629121011/https://explorers.org/about/richard_ellis|url-status=livedead}}</ref> He was a U.S. delegate to the [[International Whaling Commission]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Nothing Wasted but the Whale |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/99/08/22/nnp/ellis-whales.html |websitework=archive.nytimes.com[[The New York Times]] |date=February 23, 1992 |access-date=May 30, 2024 |first=Robert |last=Finch |archive-date=May 30, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240530063539/https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/99/08/22/nnp/ellis-whales.html |url-status=live }}</ref> from 1980 to 1990.<ref>{{Cite web |last=OpenLibrary.orgLewis |first=Tony |title=RichardAuthor Ellis to sound alarm about 'Empty Ocean' |url=https://openlibrarywww.orgsouthcoasttoday.com/authorsstory/OL2622315Alifestyle/2003/07/13/author-ellis-to-sound-alarm/50392082007/Richard_Ellis |access-date=May 31, 2024 |work=[[New Bedford Standard-05-30Times]] |websitelocation=OpenNew LibraryBedford, MA |language=en-US |archive-date=May 30, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240530064007/https://www.southcoasttoday.com/story/lifestyle/2003/07/13/author-ellis-to-sound-alarm/50392082007/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

HisDespite no formal training in marine biology, painting or writing, his paintings have been exhibited in galleries and museums around the world, and his murals can be seen in the [[Denver Museum of Nature and Science|Denver Museum of Natural History]], the [[New Bedford Whaling Museum]] in [[Massachusetts]],<ref>{{cite news

|title=Whaling museum offers 24-hour Moby Dick reading

|newspaper=[[The Providence Journal]] (Mass. ed.)

|edition= Massachusetts

|date=January 2, 1998

|page=C.04

}}</ref> and Whaleworld, a museum in [[Albany, Western Australia]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Albany's Historic Whaling Station|url=https://cuaustralasia.com/?destination=test|access-date=July 5, 2021 |publisher=Children's University Australasia and Africa (IO) |language=en-US|archive-date=July 5, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210705100434/https://cuaustralasia.com/?destination=test|url-status=live}}</ref> He authored and illustrated more than two dozen books on marine life.<ref name=":4" />

}}</ref> and Whaleworld, a museum in [[Albany, Western Australia]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Albany's Historic Whaling Station|url=https://cuaustralasia.com/?destination=test|access-date=2021-07-05|website=Children's University|language=en-US|archive-date=July 5, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210705100434/https://cuaustralasia.com/?destination=test|url-status=live}}</ref> He is the author of more than 100 magazine articles, which have appeared in ''National Geographic'', ''Natural History'', ''Audubon'', ''Curator'', ''National Wildlife'', ''Geo'', ''Australian Geographic'', and ''Reader's Digest''.{{citation needed|date=September 2011}} He has written 23 books, including ''The Book of Sharks,'' ''The Book of Whales'', ''Dolphins and Porpoises'', ''Men and Whales'', ''Great White Shark'' (with John McCosker), ''Encyclopedia of the Sea'', ''Aquagenesis: The Origin and Evolution of Life in the Sea'', ''Deep Atlantic'', ''Monsters of the Sea'', ''Imagining Atlantis'', ''[[The Search for the Giant Squid]]'', ''Tiger Bone & Rhino Horn'', ''No Turning Back: The Life and Death of Animal Species'', ''Sea Dragons: Predators of Prehistoric Seas'', ''Tuna'',<ref>{{cite news | url=http://articles.sfgate.com/2008-07-22/entertainment/17173126_1_bluefin-canned-tuna-richard-ellis | work=The San Francisco Chronicle | first=Jason | last=Warshof | date=July 22, 2008 | title=Enjoy the tour, and please don't lick the tuna | access-date=July 2, 2010 | archive-date=November 29, 2010 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101129094122/http://articles.sfgate.com/2008-07-22/entertainment/17173126_1_bluefin-canned-tuna-richard-ellis | url-status=live }}</ref> ''The Empty Ocean'', and ''Swordfish: A Biography of the Ocean Gladiator''. ''On Thin Ice'' looks into the changing world of polar bears and highlights their problems caused by [[global warming]] and [[Arctic ice shrinkage|disappearing Arctic ice]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120668816&ft=1&f=1032 |title=Author: Polar Bears Are 'On Thin Ice' |publisher=NPR |date=2009-11-22 |access-date=2016-09-20 |archive-date=August 14, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180814001758/https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120668816&ft=1&f=1032 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2011 the University Press of Kansas published ''The Great Sperm Whale: A Natural History of the Ocean's Most Magnificent and Mysterious Creature''. Richard Ellis curated a show on sharks in art for the Fort Lauderdale Art Museum, from May 2012 to January 2013.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.starmark.com/starmark-launches-integrated-campaign-for-shark-exhibition/ |title=SHARK, the newest exhibition at the Museum of Art Ft Lauderdale |publisher=Starmark |date=2013-01-06 |access-date=2016-09-20 |archive-date=August 14, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180814002018/https://www.starmark.com/starmark-launches-integrated-campaign-for-shark-exhibition/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Early Lifelife==▼

Ellis died on May 21, 2024, in [[Norwood, New Jersey]], at the age of 86. According to his daughter, the cause of death was cardiac arrest.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/29/science/richard-ellis-dead.html|title=Richard Ellis, 'Poet Laureate' of Deep-Sea Creatures, Dies at 86|work=[[The New York Times]]|first=Michael S.|last=Rosenwald|date=May 29, 2024|access-date=May 29, 2024|archive-date=May 29, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240529204442/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/29/science/richard-ellis-dead.html|url-status=live}}</ref>▼

Richard Ellis was born on April 2, 1938, in [[Queens]], [[New York City|New York]]. His parents, Richard and Sylvia Ellis, were lawyers. His father worked at the United Transformer Corporation, while his mother did not practice. It was during his childhood that Richard acquired a love for the ocean which he kept throughout his life.<ref name=":0" />

▲==Early Life==

Richard Ellis wasgraduated bornfrom on April 2, 1938 inthe [[Queens]],University [[Newof York City|New YorkPennsylvania]]. Hisin father1959 waswith Hisa parents,degree Richardin and Sylvia Ellis,American were lawyerscivilization. HisAfter fathergraduating, workedhe atjoined the [[United TransformerStates Corporation,Army]] whileand hiswas motherstationed didin not[[Honolulu]], practice.[[Hawaii]] Hewhere he spent mosthis offree histime childhoodsurfing and swimming in the ocean[[Pacific Ocean]].<ref name=":0" />

He graduated from the [[University of Pennsylvania]] in 1959 with a degree in American civilization. After graduation, he joined the army and was stationed in [[Honolulu]], [[Hawaii]] where he spent his free time surfing and swimming in the [[Pacific Ocean]].<ref name=":0" />

== Career==

In 1969 at the age of 31, Ellis was hired by the [[American Museum of Natural History]] as an exhibition designer and was asked to help build a life-sized blue whale for the Hall of Ocean Life for the museum's 100-year anniversary. After relying on paintings and photos of dead animals for the creation of the exhibit, Mr. Ellis decided to start swimming with animals in their natural habitat to depict them more accurately.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":4">{{Cite web |last=York |first=WILLIAM J. BROAD The New |title=Artist's focus is life in the sea |url=https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/news/2012/08/21/artists-focus-is-life-in-the-sea/29116023007/ |access-date=May 30, 2024 |website=Sarasota Herald-Tribune |language=en-US |archive-date=May 31, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240531205219/https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/news/2012/08/21/artists-focus-is-life-in-the-sea/29116023007/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Ellis spent most of his life traveling to exotic locations and used scuba gear and a steel cage to swim with various marine animals. He was one of the first ocean explorers to swim with [[Great white shark|great white sharks]].<ref name=":0" />

==Personal Life==▼

He married Anna Kneeland in1963. They had a daughter, Elizabeth, and a son, Timo. They divorced in 1981.<ref name=":0" />▼

His photorealistic paintings of whales were published in [[Audubon]], [[National Wildlife|National Wildlife Magazine]] and [[Encyclopædia Britannica|Encyclopedia Britannia]]. He maintained an affiliation with the American Museum of Natural History for most of his life but is most well-known for writing and illustrating books on marine animals. His notable works include ''The Book of Whales'' (1980), ''Monsters of the Sea'' (1994), ''[[The Search for the Giant Squid]]'' (1998), and ''Tuna: A Love Story'' (2008).<ref name=":0" /> ''On Thin Ice'' (2009) looks into the changing world of polar bears and highlights their problems caused by [[global warming]] and [[Arctic ice shrinkage|disappearing Arctic ice]].<ref name=":2">{{cite web |date=November 22, 2009 |title=Author: Polar Bears Are 'On Thin Ice' |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120668816&ft=1&f=1032 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180814001758/https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120668816&ft=1&f=1032 |archive-date=August 14, 2018 |access-date=September 20, 2016 |publisher=NPR}}</ref>

He died at the age of 86 at an assisted living facility in Norwood, New Jersey.<ref name=":0" />

Richard Ellis curated a show on sharks in art for the Fort Lauderdale Art Museum, from May 2012 to January 2013.<ref name=":3">{{cite web |date=January 6, 2013 |title=SHARK, the newest exhibition at the Museum of Art Ft Lauderdale |url=https://www.starmark.com/starmark-launches-integrated-campaign-for-shark-exhibition/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180814002018/https://www.starmark.com/starmark-launches-integrated-campaign-for-shark-exhibition/ |archive-date=August 14, 2018 |access-date=September 20, 2016 |publisher=Starmark}}</ref>

▲==Personal Lifelife==

▲HeEllis married Anna Kneeland in1963in 1963. They had a daughter, Elizabeth, and a son, Timo. They divorced in 1981.<ref name=":0" />

▲EllisHe died onat Maythe 21,age 2024,of 86 at an assisted living facility in [[Norwood, New Jersey]], at the age of 86. According to his daughter, the cause of death was cardiac arrest.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/29/science/richard-ellis-dead.html|title=Richard Ellis, 'Poet Laureate' of Deep-Sea Creatures, Dies at 86|work=[[The New York Times]]|first=Michael S.|last=Rosenwald|date=May 29, 2024|access-date=May 29, 2024|archive-date=May 29, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240529204442/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/29/science/richard-ellis-dead.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

==References==

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[[Category:People associated with the American Museum of Natural History]]

[[Category:20th-century American male artists]]

{{US-biologist-stub}}