[1] George Ellis was born in Birmingham, Alabama.
He received a BA in art history from the University of Chicago in 1959 and an MFA in painting from the same institution in 1962.
However, he later became assistant director of the Birmingham Museum of Art and then associate director of the Museum of Cultural History at the University of California, Los Angeles.
[2][3] Highlights of his tenure at the Honolulu Museum of Art include establishment of the Academy Art Center at Linekona and construction of the Luce Pavilion.
In 2002, Ellis received the Alfred Preis Award from the Hawaii Alliance for Arts Education.