Impact well beyond his own imagination....

As we look at people that have been instrumental in Solidia's evolution as a company, Ellis is one of the most important contributors from LafargeHolcim. Ellis was the final technical 'assessment' for the company and without his endorsement, we would be in a very different place today.

I tell two stories about Ellis all the time. After an all day meeting during which Ellis grilled our CTO with question after question, LH's CTO asked Ellis if he had any other questions about the technology. Ellis slumped in his chair and with a very disappointed tone said, 'No. Scientifically, there is nothing left to prove. They have actually figured it out."

Following that meeting, Ellis spent a week with us to evaluate the state of the technology. During the week, we made, cured and tested everything that we knew how to make so that he could see that it actually could be done. At the end of the week, we were at a dinner in NYC and Ellis had not smiled or given us any indication of this opinion. When asked what he thought, he smiled for the first time and said, "it actually works!" He then spent the rest of the evening telling us jokes with his very dry English sense of humor.

For us, he was the one of the most intellectually honest, ethical researchers I have ever met. We tried to engage him after his retirement because he offered such a refreshing view of our technology that you can't often get when you work with it everyday. As we got to know him better, we found him to also be a caring, funny man who's concern for his family far outweighed anything cement and concrete had to offer.

During times like this, there are no magic words that can suddenly make Ellis' passing more acceptable, but hopefully the memories that are shared in this blog will serve as a gentle reminder of his legacy and the impact he had on others. He had an impact on me and on our company that we will never forget.

Tom Schuler
President and CEO
Solidia Technologies, Inc.