… the University of California Riverside professor who wrote a generous blurb for Jenny’s and my book, has died.
… Mr. Elliott grew up in a three-room apartment in a gritty Baltimore neighborhood. His father drove a truck. His mother operated a loom that produced corporate emblems.
After earning his bachelor’s degree, his family’s first college degree, from Loyola College in Baltimore, he got his master’s degree from Bowling Green State and Ph.D. from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
After 17 years teaching at Princeton, he came to UCR for the opportunity to shape a growing campus, he said in a previous interview.
… Liam Corley, who earned his Ph.D. at UCR in 2004 under Elliott’s guidance, also remembered him fondly. Corley, an assistant professor of English at Cal Poly Pomona, is deployed to Afghanistan with the Navy.
“Emory was a selfless man,” Corley wrote in an e-mail to UCR officials after they informed him of Elliott’s death. “He was always in high demand as a mentor, teacher, speaker and scholar, but he had the generous gift of always paying attention to the person before him.”
April 2nd, 2009 at 3:01AM
I am one of the many academics working overseas that was lucky enough to work with Emory Elliott. Emory loved to travel, and as he pointed out he really didn’t begin to explore the world until he was in his 40s. He loved globetrotting, but most of all he loved helping international scholars by writing recommendation letters for grants and fellowships, reading articles for publication, and generally giving thoughtful advice and invaluable support. I will always remember his brief visit to Athens, Greece–I got to show him my part of the world and he was thrilled at seeing the Acropolis and eating at Greek tavernas. He touched significantly the lives of so many people, scholars and students alike. He will be sorely missed.
April 2nd, 2009 at 5:47AM
Hariclea: Thank you for that wonderful reminiscence.
April 2nd, 2009 at 6:29AM
Emory was the founding master of Butler College, one of the residential colleges at Princeton University, in the early 1980s. He had the right combination of graciousness, kindness, and approachability in addition to being recognized by the students as an outstanding teacher, so he was instrumental in getting Princeton’s residential colleges launched successfully.
April 2nd, 2009 at 7:35PM
I only met him twice, recently, but he was enormously kind and generous. Somehow he still felt lucky to live his life, and for all his academic eminence, he never acted entitled to anything.