Tributes to Ellen Moilanen (née Tham)
It is with deep sadness that we share the news of Ellen Moilanen, a long standing member of the Faculty, on the 8th February 2022, in a road traffic accident.
Ellen worked within the Faculty administration team for many years. She joined the Law Faculty in 2006 as the Student Administration Officer, moved on to become the Course Administrator for the newly established Diploma in IP in 2008. In 2014 Ellen left the Faculty to take up a post at the Faculty of Oriental Studies for two years but returned as our IP Administrator in 2016. She stayed in this post until 2020 when she left to become the Academic Administrator at the newly established Reuben College.
Ellen was a very generous, kind and patient person who always saw the positive in people and was always willing to help others. She was a friend to many in the Faculty and will be greatly missed by all.
"Ellen was one of the nicest people you could know. She had a really generous spirit — she was always welcoming, always greeted you with a smile, always managed to see the positive in people, always tried to make things better. She had a wonderfully mischievous sense of humor. She also had a really sharp mind and keen intellect. She identified and solved problems before most of the rest of us even recognized an issue — in part because she really understood the university, which she loved being part of, and in part because she never failed to see the human dimension to what might seem to some as an abstract problem. And I don't think I have ever known anyone able to do as many things as well — as quickly and cheerfully — all at the same time. Without that special combination of character and intellect (and enthusiasm), I doubt the IP Diploma would have survived its first couple of years and flourished as it did, and the IP Centre may not exist. She was the glue that held the IP community at Oxford together, equally at home working with a mix of academics, senior judges, leading practitioners sometimes mystified by the rhythm of the university, ambitious young lawyers juggling career and studies, and diverse graduate students. She was an indispensable colleague, but more than that, a true friend. I will miss her terribly."
Graeme Dinwoodie, Global Professor of IP Law & Former Director of the Oxford Intellectual Property Research Centre (OIPRC)
"To work with Ellen you could not but help also be a friend. Ellen was always a very endearing and supportive colleague but she also didn’t suffer fools lightly and was very honest and direct when situations required it. If Ellen was involved in any project, you knew everything would be all right as she embarked on matters with such competence. The most vivid thing I remember of Ellen is her huge engaging smile.
We often shared recipes, gardening tips and talked about travel adventures and I valued our shared Chinese connection and anecdotes. Ellen loved her garden, not only for the plants but also for the wild life it attracted; even setting up a camera so she could witness the night time activities of her welcomed wildlife.
She cared for others in a way not all of us do. I will really miss her."
Jenny Hassan, Colleague and Friend
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If you ask anybody about Ellen, the first thing everyone would say is “her smile.” and how she was always such a bright, cheerful person.
Ellen was kind and thoughtful. I never seem anyone work so hard or as thoroughly as she did, and oh my god she was so scarily efficient. But she also had patience and took time to help others.
Ellen and Karo, planned and took a lot of care with their garden, should we have a regular pond or just a water feature, what plants would be best but also friendly to birds. I remember after Ellen telling us that after spending so much time on the garden it was looking good. She came in one morning and told us that when they got up that morning their garden looked like a bomb had hit it. Shrubs broken plants ruined their garden was a mess it was awful. It turns out that a fox had visited that night and due to the high walls surrounding the garden the fox couldn’t get up and over the wall. It caused so much damage. But what did Ellen and Karo do? They looked at their garden they lovingly put together. And set to work on arranging pots and things against one of the walls so if the poor fox came back, it wouldn’t get distressed or hurt, it could use them as steps to get up and over the wall.
Ellen would keep us entertained with stories of the wildlife that visited their garden, I’m sure word must of got out amongst the birds, frogs, hedgehogs, Fox’s. And even a badger, that Ellen’s garden was a safe haven, a sort of “stroll-through” for wildlife as food and water would always be available. I’m sure a whole episode of Springwatch could have been film there!
Ellen always found time to ask “how are you” “how was your weekend”, “how’s your family“, I’m sure she knew more about me and my family than I did of her and hers.
Ellen was a great listener and work colleague but most of all I was lucky to call her a friend.
Geraldine Malloy, Colleague and Friend
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"For me personally, Ellen was at the heart of IP law in Oxford. She had a gift for getting on with people and was superbly organised. Days before she died, Lettitia sent me a document she had found thanks to Ellen's "wonderful filing system". She was unflappable, strong through good times and bad.
I always had long chats with her when I was up. I was probably keeping her from her work but she never let on. I looked forward to seeing her. She left a huge hole when she went to Reuben but I was delighted for her - and for Reuben.
I hadn't been able to arrange to meet her throughout Covid and never thought this would happen. But in my mind, she will always be just around the corner in Oxford with my other Oxford friends, and we will meet again.
I'm sure the IPLA and all the tutors and students who have come across her through the Diploma would want to say how sorry they are to hear the news, to thank her publicly for all her help and support, and to offer her husband, family, colleagues and friends,including all of you, their sad condolences."
Catriona Smith, Consultant at Wiggin and formerly Deputy Director of the IP Diploma Oxford
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"I worked with Ellen for many years on the IP Diploma course. Ellen was central to the organisation. She was one of the most kind, conscientious, decent and hard working people I have met. Ellen ensured that things were done properly and done on time. Ellen was unique. If there was anyone that I felt I could rely on 100% it was Ellen. We have lost a very special person."
Robert Anderson, Research Fellow at the OIPRC & Consultant and formerly Senior Partner at Hogan Lovells
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"It was a great pleasure to work with Ellen. The Law Faculty is blessed with an amazing admin team, but Ellen really stood out for her organisation and efficiency. She was totally reliable and it was always reassuring to know that anything Ellen was responsible for would get done properly and on time. She dealt with some really difficult situations with calm and good grace, but was never afraid to speak her mind or to be firm with people when they were out of order. She also helped to make the Faculty Office a really friendly and supportive place to work. I feel privileged to have known her."
Anne Davies, Faculty of Law, Oxford
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"The world is a far poorer place following Ellen’s untimely passing. My time at Oxford, as a student and lecturer, benefited enormously from Ellen’s knowledge, organisation skills and professionalism. Nothing was left to chance and every activity she was involved in was always a success. I was also fortunate to spend time chatting to Ellen about her musicality and general love of music - moments I will treasure. Her dedication to and support of the IP community at Oxford will be greatly missed. My thoughts are with her family, friends, and colleagues."
Alison Slade, Lecturer at Leicester law School and Visiting Lecturer Oxford Faculty of Law
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"I remember, and will miss terribly, Ellen’s amazing support for admissions. When I first arrived back in Oxford in 2005 I didn't know anything about the admissions process, spreadsheets or anything else and I remember with such gratitude how supportive and patient she was with me, even when I got things completely wrong and missed deadlines. She was always like that; so kind and helpful and also so brilliantly competent. Throughout this more recent round of admissions again, whenever we couldn't remember how to do something on the back end of ADSS, with one voice we would say 'let's ask Ellen'. It is just impossible and so heartbreaking to know that not only will we never again have the benefit of that incredibly valuable expertise, kindness and support, but that we will also not be able to catch up with her, chat to her or hear about the other amazing things she would no doubt have gone on to do at Reuben and in the University more generally in her effective, brilliant and lovely way. None of us will be the same without her."
Rebecca Williams, Faculty of Law, Oxford
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"In parallel to her work in the Faculty, you may or may not know that Ellen was quite a successful hotel manager.
She ran a very popular ‘wildlife b&b’ from her garden, which was home to all sorts of creatures but the hedgehogs were the VIPs. Many mornings she would walk into the office to show us footage from the night before, thrilled to see them caught on film, or worried about not catching them on camera or not seeing them for a while and she would tell us about all the possible scenarios of entry/exit points from the garden, the places around her house that the hedgehogs could have gone to and the various routes the hedgehogs could have taken there. Hedgehog season was on!
Ellen dedicated lots of time trying to create the best habitat for all her guests whether large or small, having various types of feeders, researching what was the most suitable food to leave out for them, and planting a wide variety of plants and flowers so even insects were catered for. The best part of these conversations was seeing the joy this brought her, how happy she was doing this for them.
Looking back on these memories the connection between Ellen and the garden is very obvious. Ellen herself was a walking, living garden, always dressed in colourful clothes, quirky pattern combinations and exuding life on every step."
Marina Amiconi, Colleague and Friend
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"I’d known Ellen for a while before I became Admissions Co-Ordinator, and I’d always found her to be a happy, smiling presence around the Law Faculty. But it wasn’t until I took on the role that I came to appreciate quite how incredible she was. I discovered this when ADSS broke. Catastrophically. I was told ‘oh yes, that’s been broken for years. Ellen just fixes it’. This was not the first time I was to hear this. Over my four years as AdCo, I discovered that Ellen basically held the entire thing together in the background, but never seemed to even break a sweat. She sat with me in Faculty Selection Committee a picture of calm and poise, always ready with her huge grin and a tension-breaking laugh when needed. Ellen was frankly brilliant and she made my job a joy. Every meeting with her was a pleasure because she was always so on top of things, so fun, so calm, so clever and so quick. Oxford feels less warm and joyful without her."
Imogen Goold, Faculty of Law
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"For me Ellen represented the very best of university administration. She was remarkably efficient, she had an intuitive understanding of people and a winning sympathy for those she dealt with, which was heart-warming. A very special and loveable human being."
Adrian Zuckerman, Faculty of Law, Oxford
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"I just wanted to share how much I enjoyed working with Ellen when I was Faculty Admissions Co-ordinator. She was incredibly knowledgeable about the admissions system, and always calm and cheerful, even when working to some very tight deadlines. She was able to see the people behind the statistics and this showed in the great care she put in to making sure everyone had a fair chance. There are many people, including me, whose time at Oxford was greatly improved by Ellen's contribution."
Ben McFarlane, Faculty of Law, Oxford
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"I worked with Ellen on and off for around 12 years and she already worked at the Faculty when I started back in 2008. The support team was really small back then and she was super friendly and welcoming. She was great to work with, always willing to help and really knowledgeable about the Faculty and University. I always admired her ability to get right to the point, not faff about and get things done!
She was a lovely person and I’ll miss seeing her around and catching up with her. I remember when I told her I was going to visit New York for the first time a few years ago, and she was really excited for me and took time to write me a list of all the places I should visit and great places to eat which was just so kind of her."
Emma Gascoigne, Colleague and Friend
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"I didn't know Ellen Moilanen as well as some colleagues, but I did want to share a small story. Once, many years ago now, when Ellen worked in Admissions for the Law Faculty - and, of course, at that time, as throughout all her time in the Law Faculty, she was universally liked as a person and admired as a wonderful and professional colleague in her work - anyway, many years ago now, I ran into Ellen when I got off a bus north of Summertown. I wasn't very well at the time with anxiety and I was actually on my way to see a psychologist and I was feeling just ... very low, and very scared. Anyway, I ran into Ellen on the street and I suppose I was sort of embarrassed at that time in my life at needing mental health help (silly of me; I wouldn't feel that now) and Ellen was of course warm and lovely and was asking me just in normal chatting what I was doing up there and ... I just couldn't manage to say much, but somehow just something in how I tried to reply or didn't manage to reply, and Ellen just nodded and smiled so kindly and reached out and patted my shoulder or arm, and I could tell she just knew I wasn't doing very well even though I didn't manage to say anything. Just a nano-second, she wouldn't have remembered because I bet she was like that every day of her life; I remember because I remember the smallest (and often most important) kindnesses from times when I have been struggling. I have thought of this tiny but precious to me chance meeting many times since I heard the terrible news. She was like that with everyone I think, just her nature. I feel lucky to have known her at all."
Julie Dickson, Faculty of Law
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Life is a more colourful place for having known Ellen. Her energy did not go unnoticed; a strong, kind and bright soul.
Zoe Davis-Heaney, Colleague and Friend
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I was never fortunate enough to work directly with Ellen but I could see the positive influence she had on her close colleagues and I could experience the joy she brought to any Faculty occasion. I will remember her for her smiles, her gentle and kind nature and for the treats she brought back from her trips back home. The tea cupboard was renewed with exotic fruit and herbal teas whenever Ellen came back. Her work ethic, her professionalism and her calmness meant she was admired and trusted by colleagues, everyone had so much respect for her. Our little Oxford world has lost a shining star and she will be sorely missed.
Clare Oxenbury-Palmer, Colleague and Friend
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As a new member of the Oxford Law Faculty, I never got to meet Ellen, much to my dismay. Reading the tributes to her from my colleagues show how much she was loved and how much she contributed to life in Oxford. I am very sorry that this tragedy stole the opportunities for all of us to enjoy her company and to be lifted by her sunny spirit.
Ruth Chang, Faculty of Law
