Richard Ellis

Richard Ellis (April 2, 1938 – May 21, 2024) was an American marine biologist, author, and illustrator. He was a research associate in the American Museum of Natural History's division of paleontology, special adviser to the American Cetacean Society, and a member of the Explorers Club. He was a U.S. delegate to the International Whaling Commission from 1980 to 1990.

Despite no formal training in marine biology, painting or writing, his paintings have been exhibited in galleries and museums around the world, and his murals can be seen in the Denver Museum of Natural History, the New Bedford Whaling Museum in Massachusetts, and Whaleworld, a museum in Albany, Western Australia. He authored and illustrated more than two dozen books on marine life.

Ellis spent most of his life traveling to exotic locations and used scuba gear and a steel cage to swim with various marine animals. He was one of the first ocean explorers to swim with great white sharks.

Richard Ellis curated a show on sharks in art for the Fort Lauderdale Art Museum, from May 2012 to January 2013.

Personal life Ellis married Anna Kneeland in 1963. They had a daughter, Elizabeth, and a son, Timo. They divorced in 1981.