07/24/96
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ATHENS, Ohio -- Jack Ellis, Ohio University vice president for development and executive director of the Ohio University Foundation, has announced that he will retire next June following a 30-year career in fund-raising at the university.
During Ellis's tenure, Ohio University's endowment has grown from $3.5 million to more than $100 million and the university has received more than $300 million from private contributors.
"Jack Ellis's service to Ohio University has been extraordinary," said Ohio University President Robert Glidden said. "Under his leadership over the past three decades, the Ohio University Foundation has grown to be one of the most successful in the nation among public universities. He has presided over two very successful fund drives, the 1804 drive in the 1980s and the Third Century Campaign, which exceeded its $100 million goal by more than 30 percent when it was completed in 1993. Jack Ellis knows Ohio University alumni and friends like no other individual and he will be sorely missed. Finding a successor will be an enormous challenge -- we will begin that process in September."
Upon retirement, Ellis will have completed 25 years -- nearly half the Ohio University Foundation's existence -- as its executive director and 28 years as the university's chief development officer. Before being hired in 1967 by President Vernon R. Alden as executive director of the Ohio University Alumni Association, Ellis was in private business for 10 years in the Los Angeles area.
"I have been most fortunate," Ellis said, "to have worked nearly 30 years at an institution I love, and in positions I've thoroughly enjoyed. I've served under five presidents and have had the opportunity to work with outstanding development professionals, terrific alumni and friends, dedicated faculty and staff, and the incredibly hard-working members of the Foundation Board of Trustees. My career at Ohio University has been a privilege and I shall always value the associations and friendships I've developed over the years."
Under Ellis, the development office has won numerous national awards for fund-raising efforts, including the Exceptional Achievement Award from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) in 1982 and 1983. Last year, the office won the 1995 Circle of Excellence in Educational Fund-Raising Award -- one of only 11 public research/doctoral universities in the nation to be so recognized. The Development Office's fund-raising success has placed Ohio University in The Chronicle of Philanthropy's "Top 400" institutions for four of the last five years.
Ellis received the Ohio University Alumni Association's highest honor, the Medal of Merit, in 1970 and was named Alumnus of the Year in 1980. He won the Outstanding Administrator Award from the university's Administrative Senate in 1984.
A Chillicothe native, Ellis, 62, received a bachelor of science in business degree from Ohio University in 1957. Ellis is married to the former Sue Mathis, also of Chillicothe, a retired registered nurse. They have three daughters and a son, all of whom are Ohio University alumni. Two of their sons-in-law also are Ohio University graduates.