Richard Stephens Ellis

Richard Stephens Ellis, known as Dick by his friends and family, passed away peacefully on October 12, 2025, at the age of 90, in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, after almost a full year of illness. Born on Decem­ber 16, 1934, in Detroit, Michigan, to the late Dr. Seth Wiley Ellis and Mildred Hill Ellis, Dick's life was a testament to a perpetually curious mind and a gentle, empathetic spirit always ready to learn.

Dick was a dedicated and meticulous scholar. After an undergrad­uate education at Wabash College majoring in history, he earned his Master’s degree in Near Eastern Archaeology at the University of Chi­cago. During that time, he was drafted into the US army, which sent him to serve in Germany as part of the US Signal Corps during the Berlin crises of 1961-62.  After completing his military service, Dick returned to the University of Chicago to complete his PhD developing his lifelong dedication to Near Eastern archaeology, among other in­terests. While at Chicago, he took a course in Biblical Hebrew, and in that class met his future wife, Ria. They married in 1964. Dick’s aca­demic journey then led him to a distinguished career as a faculty mem­ber first at Yale University, and then at Bryn Mawr College, where for thirty years he shared his knowledge and keen interest in the people of ancient history with countless students in the Classical and Near Eastern Archeology Department.

As an archaeologist, Dick’s career was defined both by his scholar­ship and by his active participation in excavations across the Middle East. As a scholar, his contributions were recognized by his peers as careful and astute, the product of an insightful, inquiring mind. In the field, he participated in or led excavations in Iraq and Turkey.

In 2010, Dick was presented with a volume of 20 academic arti­cles based on his published dissertation, Foundation Deposits in An­cient Mesopotamia, on the occasion of  its 40th anniversary. He had been asked to contribute a response to the collected articles covering the building and reconstruction of temples in the Ancient Near East and the Hebrew Bible, but it was only upon publication that he found, to his surprise, that the book was dedicated to him, in honor of his early scholarship and its importance in the field. The anniversary vol­ume, by multiple academics, paid tribute to the impact of his scholar­ship across multiple fields.

Dick’s deep interest in other cultures was not limited to his ca­reer, and extended into his retirement years. After retiring from teach­ing at Bryn Mawr College in 2003 he became a Professor Emeritus and continued his work with Near Eastern archaeology. But over the years he also accompanied his wife Ria on her intermittent professional travels, including visits to India, Mongolia, China, Thailand, and Yemen, as well as Western Europe. He maintained his lifelong interests in his­tory, architecture and culture culture, and the opportunity to travel after retirement allowed him to pursue his long-lasting hobby of pho­tography while learning about many places and peoples.

Those who knew Dick personally recognized him as a quiet, gentle man, but also gregarious and a good host; a thoughtful observer, one whose curiosity about the world was accompanied and informed by a real, often unspoken interest in people and how they live their lives. His natural humility was contrasted by the deep fondness and respect that his wide acquaintanceship had for him.

Dick’s was preceded in death by his older siblings, Willis Hill Ellis and Margaret Ellis Mahoney, but Dick's memory will be carried on by his beloved spouse of 60 years Maria "Ria" deJong Ellis; his devoted child Perrin A. Ellis; and his daughter-in-law Michelle Vine. He also is survived by his niece Laura Mitchell, and his nephew and godson Rich­ard W. Ellis, and by many other is members of Dick and Ria’s extended families.

Richard Stephens Ellis will be profoundly missed, but his teaching and the memories he created will remain alive with friends, family, and his academic community. His sense of perfection may have slowed down the publication of his ideas, but what he did publish demon­strates his lifelong purpose and passion.

A memorial service will be at 1:00pm p.m. Saturday, October 25th, 2025, at the Lower Merion Baptist Church, 911 New Gulph Road, Bryn Mawr. Visitation will be at 12:30 p.m. The service will be conducted by the church’s pastor, Rev. Angel Pagán Jr.