Ernest Eugene Kell, Jr. (July 5, 1928 – April 29, 2017) served as mayor of

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

from 1984 to 1994, and as a city councilor for 13 years.

Life and career

Kell was born into modest circumstances on a farm in

Washburn, North Dakota Washburn is a city in southern McLean County, North Dakota, United States. Located along the upper Missouri River, it is the county seat of McLean County. The population was 1,300 at the 2020 census. Washburn was founded in 1882 near the form ...

. His family moved to Wilmington during the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

, where he would graduate from

Phineas Banning High School Phineas Banning High School is located in the Wilmington neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, and is a part of the Los Angeles Unified School District. History Banning High School was renamed in honor of General Phineas Banning when a n ...

. He received an associate degree from

Long Beach City College Long Beach City College (LBCC) is a public community college in Long Beach, California. It was established in 1927 and is divided into two campuses, the Liberal Arts Campus in Lakewood Village and the Pacific Coast Campus in central Long Beach ...

, and attended

California State University, Long Beach California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) is a public research university in Long Beach, California. The 322-acre campus is the second largest of the 23-school California State University system (CSU) and one of the largest universities i ...

. Kell was a

United States Merchant Marine United States Merchant Marines are United States civilian mariners and U.S. civilian and federally owned merchant vessels. Both the civilian mariners and the merchant vessels are managed by a combination of the government and private sectors, an ...

, and also

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

veteran of the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

. He would later own a drafting and contracting company. In 1973, he married his wife Jackie, herself a Long Beach city councilor from 1998 to 2006. Kell died from cancer at his home in the El Dorado Park neighborhood of Long Beach. He was 88.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kell, Ernie 1928 births 2017 deaths Mayors of Long Beach, California California city council members People from Burleigh County, North Dakota Businesspeople from California United States Army personnel of the Korean War Deaths from cancer in California United States Army soldiers 20th-century American businesspeople