Last edited 5 p.m., April 11, 2012Longtime Springfield attorney Ransom Asbury Ellis Jr. died April 8 at the age of 92.
Ellis founded Ellis, Ellis, Hammons & Johnson PC in 1977 and was a past president of the Springfield Metropolitan Bar Association. Ellis retired from the firm in January 2010, ending a 51-year career in law started in 1949, according to a news release from the SMBA. Ellis' son, Ransom A. Ellis III, serves as managing partner for the firm, which operates out of Hammons Tower.
In a phone interview this afternoon, the younger Ellis said his father was the reason he got into law.
"He did things for the community; he did things for the business community," Ellis said of his father. "I was impressed by what he did and stood for, and I wanted to use him as a role model and did."
A visitation for Ransom Ellis Jr. is scheduled to be held 5-7 p.m. April 13, and funeral services are scheduled for 1 p.m. April 14, both at the chapel of King's Way United Methodist Church, 2401 S. Lone Pine Ave. A private interment will be held at Evergreen Cemetery in Republic. In lieu of flowers, Ellis' family is asking that donations be made to Convoy of Hope or another charity, according to an obituary posted on the
Web site of Gorman-Scharpf Funeral Home, which is handling funeral arrangements.
Ellis, who was an active member of the Missouri Bar and American Bar associations during his career, primarily represented management in labor and employment matters, including collective bargaining negotiations and labor strikes in Missouri and surrounding states. Attorneys with Ellis, Ellis, Hammons & Johnson PC practice law in the labor, employment, education, health and hospital, business and corporate sectors, as well as handling civil trials and appellate cases, according to the
firm's Web site."His work and what he did for this community was huge, especially for the business community because the times were very union-oriented," the younger Ellis said. "He was an extremely fair man, and I think if you go to the people that were on the other side of the table and talked to them about how he treated them, they would tell you that he was a tough negotiator, he was hard, but he was fair.
"They knew that it was business and that it wasn't personal. Those are things that I learned from him and took away from that."
Ransom A. Ellis III pointed to a case when his father served as legal council for Litton Industries during a 1960s strike at its Springfield Litton Royal typewriter plant. In another case in the 1990s, Ransom Ellis Jr. represented the Purdy school board, which was challenged on its policy to not allow dancing within its schools.
Ellis served as SMBA president in 1985, and he was honored by the Springfield bar in 2006 with its Distinguished Attorney Award. He also previously served as a member and chairman of City Utilities of Springfield's governing body, the Board of Public Utilities; as a board member of the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce; as a member of the advisory board of Mercy Hospital Springfield; as a charter member of Twin Oaks Country Club; and as one of the founding elders and past chairman of the board of elders for National Avenue Christian Church, according to the obituary.
Ellis was preceded in death by his parents; his first wife, Hazel Joan Ellis; three brothers and two sisters; his daughter-in-law, Marjehne Anne Ellis; and his granddaughter, Rachael Lynn Ellis. Ellis is survived by his wife, Frances Dye Ellis; his sons, Ransom Ellis III and Christopher Anderson Ellis; his grandchildren, Ransom Asbury Ellis IV and Taryn Ellis; his three step-children, Alan Dye, Jennifer Barnes and Lesley Dales, and their six children; and nieces and nephews.[[In-content Ad]]
