Richard Ellis (biologist)

Richard Ellis (April 2, 1938 – May 21, 2024) was an American marine biologist, author, and illustrator. He is a research associate in the American Museum of Natural History's division of paleontology,^[1] special adviser to the American Cetacean Society,^[2] and a member of the Explorers Club.^[3] He was a U.S. delegate to the International Whaling Commission^[4] from 1980 to 1990.^[5]

Despite 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 Natural History, the New Bedford Whaling Museum in Massachusetts,^[6] and Whaleworld, a museum in Albany, Western Australia.^[7] 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]} 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,^[8] 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 disappearing Arctic ice.^[9] 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.^[10]

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.^[11]

Richard Ellis was born on April 2, 1938 in Queens, New York. His father was His parents, Richard and Sylvia Ellis, were lawyers. His father worked at the United Transformer Corporation, while his mother did not practice. He spent most of his childhood swimming in the ocean.^[11]

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.^[11]

In 1969, Mr. 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.^[11][12]

Mr. 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 great white sharks.^[11]

His photorealistic painting of whales were published in Audubon, National Wildlife Magazine and 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) and Tuna: A Love Story (2008).^[11] On Thin Ice looks into the changing world of polar bears and highlights their problems caused by global warming and disappearing Arctic ice.^[3]

He married Anna Kneeland in1963. They had a daughter, Elizabeth, and a son, Timo. They divorced in 1981.^[11]

He died at the age of 86 at an assisted living facility in Norwood, New Jersey.^[11]

• Profiles in Science in the New York Times