Awards

IU Indianapolis Spirit of Philanthropy Award - 2022

About Deborah Eller

Jonathan R. Eller served in the United States Air Force for 20 years prior to joining the IUPUI faculty in 1993. Jon is an emeritus chancellor’s professor of English and former director of the Center for Ray Bradbury Studies. His many publications include a highly regarded three-volume Bradbury biography. Jon and his wife, Debi, first met Ray Bradbury in the 1980s, but the legacy of this friendship extended far beyond Mr. Bradbury’s passing in 2012.

In 2013, Jon and Debi staged and packed thousands of high value artifacts at the Bradbury home in Los Angeles for shipment to IUPUI. As a result, the Bradbury Center has become one of the largest single-author archives in the country, with collections valued at $7.8 million. Their passion for preserving these national cultural treasures led Jon and Debi to create the Center’s Bradbury Preservation and Development Fund. We are honored to recognize Jonathan and Deborah Eller with the 2022 IUPUI Spirit of Philanthropy Award.