James B. Elliott

James B. Elliott of Oakland died unexpectedly on Dec. 5. He was 48.

Elliott was a nuclear physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. His wife Linda and daughters Mia and Noe, along with the rest of his family and friends, will miss him.

Elliott was born Sept. 19, 1965, in Charleston, Ill. He earned a bachelor’s degree in physics and astronomy from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1988 and an M.S. and a Ph.D. in nuclear physics from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind. in 1990 and 1995, respectively.

While at Purdue, he was part of the High Energy Nuclear Physics Group in the Department of Physics until 1999. He then worked in the Nuclear Science Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory until 2006. His most recent research at Lawrence Livermore as part of the Weapons & Complex Integration Directorate was in high-energy density physics, hydrodynamics, high-energy nuclear physics and asteroid deflection. He authored or co-authored more than 100 scientific publications, many of which were highlighted in professional journals.

He married Linda Haymes in 2001 and the couple had two daughters: Mia (10) and Noe (9). Elliott was devoted to his family and they enjoyed many activities together, especially soccer, basketball, kayaking, watching superhero movies and drawing. In addition to his many scientific interests, he also enjoyed long-distance running; he completed over 50 marathons including Chicago, Boston, Washington D.C., and San Francisco. In his spare time, you could always find him in the comic book store.

On Jan. 25 a Celebration of Life service will be held at the Joaquin Miller Community Center, 3594 Sanborn Drive, Oakland, Calif. 94602. The celebration will take place from 1-3 p.m. All are welcome to attend and share memories and stories.

Memorial donations can be made to the California State Parks Foundation or the Regional Parks Foundation.