Ellen K Thomas

Indianapolis - The Honorable Ellen K. Thomas died September 17, 2024, at her home in Indianapolis.

She was born in 1932 in New London, Connecticut, the daughter of Helen (Douglas) Blake and Charles P. Keating.

She held a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Oberlin College (1955) and was awarded her Juris Doctor degree cum laude from the Indiana University School of Law (1973), where she was a member of the law journal. She was a member of the Indiana Bar.

After completing law school, Judge Thomas engaged in the private practice of law in Bloomington, Indiana, where she served a term as Monroe County Attorney and also taught as an adjunct professor at the Indiana University School of Law. She also provided voluntary legal services for the Monroe County Community Action Program and the Indiana Civil Liberties Union.

Although she started her legal career late in life, she went on to complete 36 years of federal service beginning in 1979. She worked first with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) as a litigator and supervising attorney. During her time with EEOC, she took a sabbatical for a year to initiate a pilot program sponsored by Ralph Nader to involve citizens with local government. In 1991, she became an Administrative Law Judge. She worked for the Social Security Administration until 1995, when she then joined the Office of the Chief Administrative Hearing Officer (OCAHO) for the Department of Justice, where she remained until her retirement in 2016. While on leave from OCAHO from January to July of 2006, Judge Thomas served as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Sarajevo Faculty of Law in Bosnia & Herzegovina.

Throughout her career, Judge Thomas served as a pioneer and mentor for women in the legal profession.

During retirement, she continued her studies of Serbo-Croatian and Spanish, and started piano lessons. She also continued her life-long devotion to theatre and opera.

Survived by her children, and by a wide circle of chosen family, dear friends and former colleagues.

No service or ceremony is planned. If you wish, in lieu of flowers, donations in her memory may be directed to the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation.