Herbert Ellison, University of Washington, passes away.

Thu Oct 18 00:44:55 UTC 2012

University of Washington press release. I am sad. He was my Master 
Thesis adviser.

  Remembering Herbert J. Ellison, a guiding light in international studies

By Peter Kelley

News and Information

Posted under: Campus <http://www.washington.edu/news/category/campus/>, 
UW and the Community 
<http://www.washington.edu/news/category/uw-and-the-community/>

Herbert J. Ellison, 1929-2012 UW prof emeritus of international 
studies<http://www.washington.edu/news/files/2012/10/Ellison_Herbert_cropped.jpg> 

Herbert J. Ellison

The University of Washington community is mourning the loss of Herbert 
J. Ellison, professor emeritus of history and international studies and 
former director of the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies.

Ellison taught at the UW for 34 years and was for decades considered 
among the world's leading figures in the field of Soviet and post-Soviet 
studies. He died on Oct. 9, 2012, at the age of 83.

"Herb was a scholar-teacher for his time," said longtime colleague 
Kenneth Pyle, UW professor of international studies.

"His career in Russian studies unfolded during the trying days of the 
Cold War when Americans needed the kind of informed judgments about the 
Soviet Union that he could make. In his teaching, writing and service to 
the national organizations in his field he made a huge contribution to 
our understanding of the historic forces that shaped Soviet-American 
relations."

Ellison was born in 1929 in Portland, Ore. He earned his bachelor's and 
master's degrees in history from the UW and held faculty positions at 
the University of Oklahoma and the University of Kansas before returning 
to the UW in 1968. He retired in 2002.

Besides serving from 1972 to 1977 as director of the Jackson School of 
International Studies, Ellison also held leadership positions in many 
major national organizations. He was director of the Kennan Institute 
for Advanced Russian Studies in Washington, D.C., where his role as a 
government adviser during the last years of the Cold War was recognized 
by President Ronald Reagan.

Ellison also took the national lead in establishing language programs in 
Russia where American students could study. He researched and wrote 
about Soviet history, post-Soviet international relations and foreign 
policy toward Western Europe, Sino-Soviet relations, the nature of 
Gorbachev's perestroika and the role of post-Soviet Russia in the 
changing international arena of Northeast Asia.

In 2005 his name was given to the Herbert J. Ellison Center for Russian, 
East European and Central Asian Studies, funded through a $3 million 
endowment created with donations from the Ellison family as well as 
dozens of other contributors. The center funds interdisciplinary 
research, graduate students, international exchange programs and other 
initiatives "to advance historical understanding, innovative teaching, 
and public awareness about this crucial region of the world."

His book "Boris Yeltsin and Russia's Democratic Transformation 
<http://www.washington.edu/uwpress/search/books/ELLBOC.html>" was 
published in 2006 by the University of Washington Press; critics 
regarded it as an accessible and well-written look at that era of 
Russian history. Ellison also served as executive producer and chief 
consultant for the highly-regarded PBS/BBC television series "Messengers 
from Moscow," on the history of the Cold War, as well as the PBS 
documentary "The Real Boris Yeltsin," which was nominated for an Emmy award.

Ellison was one of the UW's most well-loved faculty members. His 
undergraduate courses on the history of communism and on Soviet and 
Russian history were perennial favorites, and many of his graduate 
students went on to distinguished academic careers of their own.

Lara Iglitzin, executive director of the Henry M. Jackson Foundation, 
said Ellison inspired generations of students to explore Russian 
studies. "He was an electrifying lecturer. Equally important, he was 
supportive to students and colleagues, intellectually rigorous, and a 
leader able to move Soviet and Russian studies forward as the world 
changed."

Scott Radnitz, current director of the Ellison Center, said the center 
"will forever be indebted to Ellison for his vision and leadership in 
advancing scholarship on our critical region. He was a beloved teacher 
and an inspiration to many. He will be missed."

A memorial service for Ellison will be held at 4 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 1, 
at St. Thomas Episcopal Church 
<http://www.stthomasmedina.org/who-we-are/directions.htm> in Medina.

Ellison's family and friends established in his honor the Ellison 
professorship in Russian Studies. Donations may be sent to the Herbert 
J. Ellison Endowment 
<https://www.washington.edu/giving/make-a-gift?source_typ=3&source=VGROSS,PARSCH,ELLISO,ELLISE,BOBAFD> 
at the Ellison Center.

Ellison's friend and colleague Pyle added, "He was a prime reason for 
the university's world prominence in international studies."

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