Funeral services are planned in Ottawa Thursday (Sept. 2) for retired University of Manitoba agriculture dean Jim Elliot, who’s credited with the “physical renewal” of ag facilities at the university and boosting ag research funding.
Elliot, who joined the agricultural and food sciences faculty at the U of M as an animal science professor in 1989, died Saturday of complications from pulmonary fibrosis.
The Toronto-born Elliot, who by 1969 had a master’s and doctorate in animal nutrition from the University of Alberta, started his career as an assistant professor at McGill University’s Macdonald College, followed by a stint in the early ’70s as a scientist and research manager for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.
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Arriving at U of M, Elliot “embraced with enthusiasm” his work there and found it to be the “most satisfying of his career,” Elliot’s obituary said.
During his stint as dean of agricultural and food sciences, the university said, Elliot oversaw “the physical renewal of our buildings and facilities, a new undergraduate curriculum and increased funding for agri-food research in Manitoba.”
By the time he retired in 2000, Elliot’s efforts were estimated to have helped generate about $20 million in external support for renewal work, both academically and structurally, in the faculty.
During his career, Elliot also served as president of the Canadian Society of Animal Science and Manitoba Institute of Agrologists and as a board member with the AIC Research Foundation, Oak Hammock Marsh Interpretive Centre, Red River Exhibition Association, Western Beef Development Corp. and Western College of Veterinary Medicine advisory board.
Elliot’s funeral is to be held Sept. 2 at 11 a.m. at St. Basil’s Church, 940 Rex Ave. in Ottawa. Friends are also invited to pay respects at the Kelly Funeral Home, 3000 Woodroffe Ave., on Sept. 1 from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m.
Donations may be made in his memory to Ridley College at St. Catherines, Ont.; the J.I. Elliot Bursary for the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences at the University of Manitoba; or the Sunshine Fund.
