New York, New York
1955 - 2010Ellen L. Lutz, an international human rights lawyer, teacher, and activist, died on November 4 at her home in Cambridge, MA, after a prolonged fight with metastatic breast cancer. She was 55. During her final two years battling the disease, she directed the Cambridge-based...
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I met Ellen in 1981 as a fellow student at Berkeley. I am very sad to hear of her long struggle with breast cancer and death last week. She was a lovely person - kind, gracious, and a great warrior for human rights and justice. My deepest condolences to her husband, children and family.
Janet Angell
November 08, 2011 | Calistoga, CA
I remember Ellen as a fierce, intensely smart, vivacious woman whom I feel blessed to have known. I met Ellen when I was 17, dating her son David. Little did I know the force she was, and she was truly an inspiration to me on many occasions. One school night, not too long after Dave and I had started dating, she and Dave together showed up on my parents' doorstep. She smilingly announced that she had stopped by with David because the moon was full, and you should always give your loved...
Rebecca Gray
May 02, 2011 | Lansing, MI
From the moment we met at Boalt Hall in 1981, Ellen gave off sparks. She was an igniter, an eyes-on-the-prize mover and doer. In a hot tub with a dozen friends, I say with certainty that the space around Ellen in the tub gave off hotter, more robust clouds of steam than anywhere else! Ellen remains Presente!
Rita Maran
April 14, 2011 | Berkeley, CA
Dear Ellen,
You were a force of nature, an inextinguishable fire. Your shining eyes lit up a room. Your passion for justice lit up the world.
We met when you were 17 and I was 19. We were together during a key time in both our lives: when I graduated from Temple University, when I started my first full-time job, when my parents divorced. We were together during your undergraduate years at Temple, during your graduate years at Bryn Mawr, and on a sunny day one May when...
Michael J. Schwager
March 31, 2011 | Narberth, PA
My entry about Ellen in my blog:
http://scoobydoobeach.blogspot.com/2010/11/in-memory-of-ellen.html
Maggie Heim
March 26, 2011 | HERMOSA BEACH, CA
I met Ellen in 2002, and she helped me greatly when I was trying to make some sense of my project "Envisioning Colombia in Peace", while visiting Fletcher as a senior fellow. Ellen was generous with her time and with advice. I remember her as a friend and mentor. I keep still much of our correspondence. I learnt a lot and I will like once again to say THANK YOU.
Alfredo Zamudio
December 11, 2010 | Oslo
Ellen and I started our human rights careers together in 1979 working at Amnesty USA, Ellen in DC with the Latin America program and I in NY with the death penalty program. It was a dark time– with repression and killings rampant throughout Latin America, and the death penalty, with certain safeguards, having just been reinstated in the US – and an intense time for us personally. She was impressive – confident, well-spoken, already so knowledgeable about her areas of focus.
Then...
Sandy Coliver
November 18, 2010 | New York, NY
iam very sorry for the passing of a very good lady may god help you and your family in a very hard time she is looking down on you and her family
Irene c morrison
November 13, 2010 | Pittsfield, MA