Charles Herbert Ellis, Jr., a genetics professor, died June 11 after a diving trip in Nahant. He was 64.
Mr. Ellis was born in Pasadena, Calif., and raised in Scarsdale, N.Y.
He had early role models – a pharmacologist father who taught at Whittier College in Whittier, Calif., and a mother with a master’s degree in biology – that set the stage for his career path.
“I suspect that he sort of absorbed it,” said his brother, Robert A. Ellis of Nederland, Colo.
Mr. Ellis attended Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, Pa., majoring in zoology. In 1966, he received a Ph.D. in biology from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md., and began teaching at Amherst University. Five years later, he came to Northeastern.
During his time at the university, he taught genetics and developmental biology courses, and was honored by the school with an Excellence in Teaching Award for his genetics course. He concentrated his research on marine flatworms, and was an avid diver, making several trips to San Salvador, Bahamas, with the honors program and geology department.
Co-workers and friends recall a hardworking and intelligent man who served the university as an associate professor since 1971 and logged 22 years in the Faculty Senate, recently helping to complete the four-year revision of the faculty handbook. He was widely respected across campus.
“I think Charlie was about as fair a person as I ever encountered,” said Edward L. Jarroll, associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and director of the Marine Science Center. “He tried to be evenly fair to students and colleagues. Also, he was quite politically in tune with the campus and had a good feel for the campus community.”
He was a champion of the student, fighting for their rights in his role in the Faculty Senate.
“Everything was always to the benefit of the student,” his brother said. “He was very concerned with not letting the bureaucracy get away with anything. He would bring together the student point of view and the faculty point of view.”
A dynamic personality known equally for his intelligence and humor, Mr. Ellis was able to make hard news easier to swallow. As the chair of the Health Professions Advisory Committee for 32 years, he acted as the advisor of premedical students and helped them determine which path was possibly the wrong direction, his brother said.
“He had a way of quietly seeing that the right things happened, but never offending anybody,” he said. “In his role [as advisor] he advised many students on how to get into medical school, or he’d say, ‘No, you should think of something else.’ But he’d always do it with tenderness. He was honest, usually with a funny twist.”
Students appreciated the straightforward honesty, too.
“He was really upfront with people about where their grades were going,” said Rob LaMothe, a senior biology major who took Mr. Ellis’ genetics course during his sophomore year. “I can remember going to his office hours and I had talked to him about graduate school and he said, ‘You’re not going to get in with these [grades],’ which is what I needed … He [told] you things straight so you’d be able to succeed later.”
Although he was an extroverted personality on campus, he had a private side that he guarded, his brother said. For instance, most of the university didn’t know he had a daughter, Sarah Elizabeth Kern of Wenham, he said.
“He admired his daughter and loved his daughter very much,” he said. “I’m sure he looked forward toward advising her in college like he’s done with so many students.”
Outside of the professional realm, he was an accomplished cellist. He served as chair of Eden’s Edge, Inc., a North Shore chamber music ensemble. Often, he didn’t just become involved with clubs, he immersed himself in them, his brother said.
“He’s done so much more than anyone would think a person could do; he chose what he wanted to get involved in and when he did it, he got involved so deeply,” he said.
But students and teaching were always his main interests.
“He really took pride and joy in helping the students, whether they were his Ph.D. advisees or premed advisees, or any of his normal class students, I think he really took pride in teaching them how to learn,” his brother said. “It’s not teaching them facts, it’s teaching them how to learn.”
In addition to his brother and daughter, he leaves another brother, Terrell W. of Taos, N.M. A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Monday in the Sacred Space on the second floor of the Ell Building with a reception following in Frost Lounge.
-Staff writer Jennifer Nelson contributed to this report.
