James ELLINGBOE

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Biochemist And Editor

Notes:

Jim Ellingboe passed away peacefully on Tuesday, November 5, 2013 with his family beside him after a two-year struggle with lymphoma.

Jim was born in 1937 in Wilmington, Delaware and attended DuPont High School. Despite disliking school, he was precocious and curious, creating his own experiments at home and learning to take things apart and put them together again. He met with some success, winning first prize at the State Science Fair in Delaware (and second prize nationally), and achieving the rank of Eagle Scout. Jim attended Oberlin College and studied abroad in Geneva, Switzerland, followed by earning a Ph.D. in Biochemistry at Harvard Medical School. He worked as a biochemical researcher at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden where he met his wife of 46 years, Karin. They married in Stockholm in 1967 and had their first child, a daughter Randi, the following year. The young family soon moved to the U. S., first living in the San Diego area, and then settling in Massachusetts where their children Christopher and Anna were born. Jim directed research laboratories first at Boston City Hospital and then for 21 years at the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Research Center at McLean Hospital. As an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard, he worked with graduate students, many of whom kept in contact with him over the years as their careers unfolded. Later in his career, Jim served as the scientific editor of the magazines BioTechniques and Peptide Research, where he continued to make use of his extensive network in the research community.

Jim was a man of strong beliefs. These were borne out in his many community involvements as well as in his devoted care and support of family, friends, and colleagues. As a young man, he became a convinced Friend (Quaker) and registered as a conscientious objector. He was an active member of Acton Friends Meeting and served on the permanent board of the New England Yearly Meeting of Friends. His perspective was defined by a life-long curiosity, and in the tradition of his Norwegian farmer forebears, he was an intrepid do-it-yourself man. He enjoyed the never ending task of home improvement, insisting on completing most work by himself, and sharing these values and skills with his children. As a testament to his deep appreciation of nature, Jim served on the Littleton Conservation Commission and supported environmental protection organizations. He maintained a quiet friendship with the lonely swan of Matawanakee Lake, and always had binoculars available to enjoy and share the wonders of nature. Jim was an avid photographer of the natural world, especially during travels to Scandinavia and canoeing and camping trips in Maine. In Jim’s free time he indulged his hobby of genealogical research. He reestablished connections with his distant relations in Norway, and regularly corresponded and created family reunions with these relatives. He developed a large database of historical information, served as an information resource for many Ellingboe descendants, and attended and presented at gatherings of Norwegian heritage associations in the U.S. Midwest.

Jim is remembered with love and gratitude by his wife, three children, sister, three grandchildren, extended family and a wide circle of friends. His peaceful, humble, and loving nature will be deeply missed.

Birth:
2:11 AM, 6 lbs. 6.5 oz.

James married Karin WESTLIN on 16 Sep 1967 in Spånga, Sweden. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]