Ted Eliot of Sonoma died on Aug. 9 from complications of a heart condition. He was 91.
Eliot and his late wife Pat moved to Sonoma in 1988. They spent their golden years in the Sonoma Valley passionately working to protect the natural world, expand local trails and protect open space. Pat Eliot died in 2016 at age 87.
Friend and nonprofit colleague Joshua Rymer described Eliot as a “gentleman giant of a man.”
“But he could be fierce and relentless when it came to his passions: his wife and family, the preservation of open space, birding and our community,” said Rymer. “He leaned in and we are better for it.”
Many local friends only knew snippets of Eliot’s illustrious life before Sonoma.
Theodore Lyman Eliot Jr. was born Jan. 24, 1928. He was raised in Boston, part of the prominent Boston Eliot family. His great grandfather served as president of Harvard for 40 years.
He attended St. Alban’s School in Washington, D.C. and entered Harvard University at age 16, earning both a bachelor’s and master’s degrees there. In 1951, he married Pat Peters in what is now Sri Lanka, where Eliot was working as a member of the Foreign Service.
Eliot was a Foreign Service Officer for 30 years, serving in Sri Lanka, Germany, the Soviet Union, Iran and, from 1973 to 1978, as the United States Ambassador to Afghanistan. In Washington, his tours included Country Director for Iran and Executive Secretary of the Department of State.
From 1978 to 1985 he was dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, following that he directed the Center for Asian Pacific Affairs at the Asia Foundation. His list of lifetime honors was as long as his lanky arms: The State Department awarded him its Replogle Management award and Director General’s Cup; Tufts University awarded him its Presidential Medal; the list goes on.
Later in his career, Eliot was Secretary General for the United States of the Bilderberg Meetings, the annual conference established to foster dialogue between Europe and North America, from 1981 to 1993.
During their three decades in Sonoma, the Eliots left their mark on the Valley and its natural character.
“Ted simultaneously knew everything about every global issue but also had the biggest heart and passion for his beloved Sonoma Valley,” said Beth Brown, president and CEO of the Community Foundation of Sonoma County, on whose board Eliot served for nine years. He believed that the most important single issue facing the Valley is the future of the Sonoma Developmental Center, and his dedicated work with the Community Foundation’s Sonoma Valley Fund up until his death centered on his desire to preserve the SDC land as open space.
“I think you’ll find that any time an issue crops up in the Valley that has environmental implications, you’ll find me involved somehow,” Eliot told the Index-Tribune in 2017.
He was both an avid conservationist and a passionate bird watcher. He served on the Citizens Advisory Committee of the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District, the Point Reyes Bird Observatory, the Madrone Audubon Society and the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. He also co-chaired the Measure F campaign in 2006, which reauthorized until 2031 the sales tax that supports the Sonoma County Open Space District.
“He was an extremely hard-working guy who did nothing in half measures. He was always all in,” said Wendy Eliot, who followed in her father’s footsteps, and now serves as conservation director at Sonoma Land Trust.
And he was one of those rare people who loved to fundraise, according to his son, Ted Eliot III.
“I would go to meetings with him and be astounded at his ability to strong arm people into giving,” he said. “He loved the challenge of getting money from people for causes he believed in.”
“Both of my parents were forces of nature,” said Wendy Eliot. “There was no challenge they found too daunting and they believe that anything was possible if you worked hard enough.”
Eliot always credited Pat with the couple’s decision to end up in Sonoma. When she was a teenager during World War II, she worked at the Jack London dude ranch for three summers, at a time when, because of the war, the author’s widow Charmian London had to offset dwindling revenues from her late husband’s books by opening the sprawling ranch to tourists and guests, willing to pay to spend a week walking in the footsteps of the famous writer.
“My work took us around the world for the next 30 years,” he said in 2017, “living in five different countries, plus Boston, plus Washington, D.C. But I always knew that we would someday live in Sonoma, because that’s what Pat dreamed of, and that somewhere up on Sonoma Mountain, we’d have our own home when we retired.”
In 2017, the Eliots were named Sonoma’s Alcalde and Alcaldesa for 2017.
“Ted was one of my heroes,” said Brown. “He gave in every possible way and was a role model in how to age. He was engaged till the end.”
Eliot is survived by his four children, two sisters, nine grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
A date for a celebration of his life has not yet been set but Wendy Eliot said the family hopes to schedule an event in Sonoma Valley in the early fall.
Email Lorna at lorna.sheridan@sonomanews.com.
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