Elliott got his training as a history teacher at Glenville State College[3] and was principal of the Widen, West Virginia, school system from 1939 to 1942.
Naval Reserve during World War II,[4] and earned a PhD in educational administration at the University of Colorado.
[6] His style was gentler than that of his successor Stephen Trachtenberg: a trustee at GWU said that "The conservative guy from West Virginia had been succeeded by the kid from Brooklyn,".
He and his wife established the Evelyn E. and Lloyd H. Elliott Fund, to support a professorship and other activities of the school.
[11] Elliott served as the board members at American Security Bank, Bell Atlantic, National Geographic Society, Perpetual Building Association and Woodward & Lothrop,[10] and he was included in the Washington Business Hall of Fame in 1990.