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Ralph Gregory Elliot — Humphrey Tonkin

The passing of Ralph Elliot on February 28 deprived the libraries of a great friend and a true intellectual. I first got to know Ralph with better than passing acquaintance when he undertook, pro bono, to work at my request on a review of the student judicial system at the University – a task which he
 

As a lover of books, he took an active interest in the library collection at the University of Hartford, latterly in connection with our efforts to strengthen the library’s general holdings. As a follower and practitioner of the arts (for years, he sang with the Yale alumni, and as a young man he was an amateur actor of some talent) he supported many local arts organizations in leadership positions.
Rigorously unsentimental, deeply principled, Ralph relished his own intellect, admired wisdom in others, and did not suffer fools gladly (as we all discovered, often to our

undertook with his customary sagacity and attention to detail. Recently, he participated, memorably, in a trip that I led to the Lake District with the President’s College. And there were many meetings and many conversations in between.
An expert on First Amendment law and on legal ethics, Ralph was extraordinarily familiar with all aspects of American constitutional and political history, and was a voracious reader on this and many other subjects.		   cost). Our last conversation, a few days before his death, was about the relative merits of Shakespeare movies, the death penalty (the Ross case was going on at the time), recent books on Ben Franklin, music, and Wordsworth. Witty and serene by turns, playful and profound, Ralph lived his life to the last minute, sharing his talents unselfishly with others to the end. We miss him.
2005 Mortensen Library Board of Visitors
Front row: Gene Gaddis, Minerva Neiditz, Marcia Hall, Peter Bartucca, Karen Breda, Judy Wawro, Randi Ashton-Pritting. Back row: Humphrey Tonkin, Put Brown, John Woods, Keith Stevenson, Ellsworth Grant, Debbie Baker. Missing: Nora Anthony, Bill Atwood, Jane Barstow, George Brophy, David Carson, Bob Carter, Betsy Cathles, Pat Cremins, Alice DeLana, Marjorie DeWitt, Mabel Donnelly, Clare Edwards, Mot Elsner, Steve Goddard, Francine du Plessix Gray, Eunice Groark, Walt Harrison, Robert Henry, Annie Garcia Kaplan, David LaBau, Janet Larson, Louise Loomis, Jim Lyon, Grace Mitchell, Italia Negroni, Sid Pinney, Donna Randall, Nancy Rankin, David Rhinelander, Belle Ribicoff, Celia Roberts, Charles Ross, Dora Rytman, Natalie Segal, Anne Shafer, Paul Shipman, David Sklarz, Marilyn Smith, Bob Smith, Pete Thomas, Fred Werner.
  
Allen Memorial Library Donors — January 2005 - May 2005

Dr. Jane Barstow
Dr. Moises Bertran
Professor Robert Black
Brandeis University Creative Arts Library
Dr. Robert Carl
Mr. Clint Correll
Dr. John Feierabend
Ms. Rebecca Flannery
Mrs. Joan Glazier

 Hartford Foundation for Public Giving
Ms. Ruth Herrup
Mr. Joza Karas
Professor Steve Larson
Mr. George Lechner
Loyola University Artists House Foundation
Dr. David Macbride
Dr. Susan Mardinly

Mr. Ingram Marshall
Mr. Derek Monahan
Ms. Martha Mooke
Professor Watson Morrison
Professor Richard Provost
Ms. Susana Salgado
Dr. Charles Turner
US Navy, Marine Band
University of California, Santa Barbara
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