ELLIS–Anne Leo. (May 9, 1931 – October 30, 2023) was born in Osnabruck, Germany. She came to the U.S. at age eight, after her rescue from Nazi Germany through the Kindertransport program. She went to high school in Fredericksburg, TX, where her father was a pastor for a German-speaking Lutheran community. Anne earned degrees from Wartburg College and the University of Arizona (M.A.), after which she moved to New York to pursue a career in publishing. In 1957, she married William Ellis, with whom she had a loving marriage until his passing in 2015. She was a published children’s writer, and until 1987 served as the Director of Communications for the Lutheran Church in America’s publications division, producing material that focused on social justice issues. Anne played the violin from childhood. She was the great-great-granddaughter of the German composer Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel. Anne will always be remembered for her kindness, sense of humor and joyful spirit. She is survived by her son and daughter-in-law Paul and Mary, her son Jonathan and her siblings Christopher and Monica.
Anne Leo Ellis ‘52
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