Jim Ellis

James Reed Ellis (August 5, 1921 – October 25, 2019) was a municipal bond lawyer and civic activist based in King County, Washington. Although he never sought or held elective office, at the time of his death the Seattle Times described him as "one of [Washington's] most visionary and successful civic leaders." Among the many projects for which he was a key leader were cleaning up Lake Washington, establishing King County Metro (the county's public transit system), and a series of ballot initiatives known collectively as Forward Thrust; he also founded the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust. He was also a key proponent of lidding Interstate 5 to create Freeway Park (now officially Jim Ellis Freeway Park) and the adjacent Washington State Convention Center (now Seattle Convention Center). and to a successful clean up of the lake. which netted some highway improvements but failed to get the required support for a regional rail-based transit system. In 1972 he led a successful effort to establish the countywide bus-based transit system that today carries the "Metro" name. In 1991 he founded the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust which, since that time, has put together a set of linked trails across the county.

Ellis served twice in the early 1960s as president of the King County-Seattle Municipal League, chaired the metropolitan government committee of the American Bar Association, and served 12 years on the University of Washington Board of Regents. He turned down an offer from President Nixon to be the first head of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, and received a Jefferson Award for Public Service in 1976 and a lifetime achievement award from The American Lawyer in 2005.