Life Story

Edward Lowell Keller

Edward Lowell Keller, a native of Rapid City, South Dakota passed away on July 4, 2025, the son of Earl and Blanche Keller.  He attended Rapid City schools where he began his path of lifetime learning.  As a youngster, he developed his ongoing love for and excellence in academics. From age eight through eighteen, he was an Episcopal Church Acolyte. While growing up, he had fun building electric trains, playing pick-up basketball,   fishing, and taking many trips into the Black Hills with friends and family. In high school he played coronet in the band, ran track and cross country, was a Y-Club President, and won a local Thom McAn Award.  He graduated high school as Co-Valedictorian and President of the Class of ’57.  He was an Eagle Scout, and with his buddies, an eager participant and lover of all things outdoors.

In 1957, Ed entered the United States Naval Academy as a Midshipman.  While there, he was a member of the wrestling team, sailed on the Highland Light in the Bermuda Cup Races, and marched in the Color Guard for John F. Kennedy’s inaugural parade.  Also during that time, he was selected to represent South Dakota in the Rhodes Scholar Competition.  Excelling in academics, he enjoyed studying with his13th Company classmates and graduated with Distinction. 

Upon graduation, Ed was honored to be a plank owner aboard the USS Dahlgren (DLG-12), a ship in the first class of US guided missile frigates.  As Missile Officer he served in the Cuban Missile Crises in the Cold War of 1962.  In 1965 he completed his active duty aboard the USS Little Rock and later rose to the rank of Lieutenant Commander while serving in the Naval Reserve.

Ed was accepted as a doctoral student into the newly emerging field combining clinical medicine and engineering at Johns Hopkins University.  He received his Ph.D in Biomedical Engineering in 1971.  That same year, he moved to the San Francisco Bay Area to begin his future career in academics and research.

In 1971, Ed joined the faculty of the University of California at Berkeley, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences.  In 1977-78 he was a visiting professor at the Max Plank Institute for Brain Research in Frankfurt, Germany and was named an Alexander von Humboldt Scholar.  In 1979 he expanded his research opportunities by becoming a Principal Investigator at the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute in San Francisco.  Though working at two different institutions was taxing, he loved the opportunity to teach while also mentoring graduate and undergraduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and visiting scientists, all of whom shared in his research pursuits.

Ed earned accolades and rose through the ranks at Smith-Kettlewell, being awarded the Atkinson Chair, becoming Senior Scientist, and later Associate Director.  He also became Chair of the Joint UC Berkeley-UC San Francisco Group in Bioengineering.  In 1989-90 he was a visiting scientist at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). 

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Through the years, Ed’s research career focused on uncovering the structural and functional organization of the brain with respect to motor control.  His discovery of the Omnipause Neuron (OPN) led to innovative applications of engineering principles for understanding eye movement control.  Ed received numerous grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation. He authored over 100 publications, often collaborating with domestic and international colleagues. He was a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and a member of the Barany Society. In 2010, “Advances in Oculomotor and Vestibular Systems:  A Tribute to Professor Edward Keller” was held in Naples, FL.

In 1963 Ed was married to Carole Lynne Craig of Elkins, West Virginia and  lived in Virginia Beach, Virginia. They moved to Towson, Maryland for the graduate school years.  While in the Baltimore area they welcomed three children.  They ultimately settled in Orinda, California where they resided for 50 years. In each location Ed and Carole Lynne were Youth Advisors in the Methodist Church and held other church volunteer roles.  Ed was an Assistant Scout Master with the Boy Scouts of America and somehow found time to coach soccer or attend swim meets, dance recitals, speech competitions, plays, and sports events involving their children.  Ed was a member of SIRS and played bocce ball with their group.  

Fly-fishing in remote high country streams was Ed’s passion.  He traveled from the High Sierra to Wyoming and Montana to West Virginia to Argentina and many other destinations in pursuit of freshwater trout.  He also loved fishing for deep sea salmon and halibut in Alaska and other locations.  Ed was an intrepid backpacker, completing countless excursions into the wilderness with family, friends, and any colleagues brave enough to follow.  He completed several 50 mile trips with the Boy Scouts, trekked many European trails, and reached 19,341 feet at the peak of Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa for his sixtieth birthday.  He also loved skiing with family and friends whether from his vacation home at Lake Tahoe, with colleagues at the annual Winter Conference on Brain Research or at other destinations around the world. 

In recent years Ed and Carole Lynne have been living at MonteCedro, a senior living facility in Altadena, CA. Surviving are his wife of 62 years; his sister Janice Keller Bryant of Bradenton, FL; his brother Richard E. Keller of Del Mar, CA; his children and spouses Edward Lowell Keller, Jr. (Isabelle) of Paris, France; Craig Watson Keller (Tracy) of Burbank, CA;  Morgan Jean Keller Johanson (Stephen) of Excelsior, MN; and three grandchildren, Evan, Emma and Gabriel.