By Emily J. Minor
DELRAY BEACH — Scott
Ellington, a Florida native who grew up in Panama City and always loved the
water, died in July after a battle with a rare form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
He was 66.
Ellington,
who lived in coastal Delray Beach with his wife, Linda, was the executive
director of Florida Atlantic University’s Research and Development Park.
For 12 years, he worked to pair FAU students and professors with research
companies. It is largely through Ellington’s work that FAU now houses 28
high-tech businesses at its research center in Boca Raton. Mr. Ellington was
also head of the research park authority.
Formerly
with IBM, Mr. Ellington had a knack for pairing research with researchers. He
also had an infinite love for the water, said his wife, Linda.
The
two married two and a half years ago — after Mr. Ellington was diagnosed with
mantle cell lymphoma.
“We
took that journey together,” she said recently.
A
member of the U.S. Coast Guard Flotilla No. 36, headquartered out of Boca
Raton, Mr. Ellington kept his boat, a 42-foot Jefferson, behind their home on
South Ocean Boulevard.
Besides his volunteer work with the auxiliary, he also taught sailing lessons.
His
wife said her husband was a very special man and described him as “witty,
scholarly, bright, funny, loving and caring.”
He
was also a member of the Boca Raton Rotary Club.
Besides
his wife, Mr. Ellington is survived by two children: Christopher, of Lighthouse
Point, and a daughter, Deborah, of Ocala. Two stepsons, Brian and Kyle, also
survive him, along with eight grandchildren.
The
family asks that donations be made to Rotary International, or the Barbara Bush
Foundation for Family Literacy.
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