In Memoriam: Dr. Keith Audley Alexander Ellis (1935–2024)
Keith Audley Alexander Ellis, FRSC, DFil (University of Havana). CD (Jamaica), Professor Emeritus University of Toronto (Spanish and Portuguese), passed away peacefully on December 28, 2024, at the age of 89, after a life devoted to his family, learning, teaching and social justice through culture, especially literary culture.
Keith was born on April 5, 1935, in St. Mary, Jamaica, to Cora Joyce (Lazarus) and Charles Henry Alexander Ellis. He is the elder brother of his beloved surviving sisters: Claudette (Herman White), Jean (Keith Dixon), Marion (Dennis Taylor), Cherry (Orett Hart) and Christine (Ray Applewhaite). He is the deeply missed husband of Zilpha, the loving father of Carmen Marie (Robert Willetts) and the proud grandfather of Owen and Maxwell.
A scholarship student at Calabar High School, Keith taught Spanish and History there for 2 years following graduation. He earned his B.A. from the University of Toronto in just 2 years. While completing his graduate studies 4 years later at the University of Washington (Seattle) in Romance Literatures and Languages, he published on his key literary interests—the art of poetry and of prose narrative and humanitarian justice: an article on 3 poems by the Venezuelan writer Rafael Pineda, a key article on the Brazilian novel Dom Casmurro, and various articles leading to his Ph.D thesis on the work of an exiled antifascist Spanish writer in the book, El arte novelístico de Francisco de Ayala.
Please note: This summary is drawn from a longer obituary. For the complete text, please refer to the original publication here.
