Gregory Michael Ellis JD ’99

05/22/2018

Gregory Michael Ellis JD ’99 died unexpectedly of a massive heart attack on February 7, 2018 in Portland. He was 58 years old.

Greg was born in Corvallis, Oregon, on October 31, 1959, to Lyle Ellis and Helen Sawin Ellis. He attended Pacific Lutheran University, the University of Oregon, and Oregon State University, from which he graduated in 1983 with a BA in sociology. During his years at OSU, Greg was involved with Community Outreach, working with crisis intervention teams and training volunteer staff for dealing with community information and referral services. He also served an internship with the Benton County Misdemeanant Parole and Probation Department worked on fire crews for the U.S. Forestry Service during his summers.

Greg spent his senior year of college as an exchange student in the International Division at Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan. For the next several years, he taught English as a second language in Hiroshima, Osaka, and Kyoto before moving on to teaching and administrative positions at Tokai Gakuen Women’s College in Nagoya.

Greg received an MAT from the School for International Training in Brattleboro, Vermont, in 1994. In 1996, he decided to pursue his law degree.

In 2013, Greg joined Folktime Riverstone Center and Clackamas County Behavior Health, where he worked in crisis intervention and counseling. He was very dedicated to his job and clients and he will be sorely missed by the many people whose lives he touched.

Greg is survived by his wife and childhood sweetheart, Margaret (Risley) Ashmore; his beloved son, Kentaro “Kenny” Lee Ellis, and Kenny’s mother, Takae Fukishima; his parents, Lyle and Helen Ellis; his brother, Glen; and several aunts, uncles, and cousins.