Ernie Kell

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Ernie Kell was the 25th mayor of Long Beach, serving from 1984 to 1994. He also spent 13 years on the Long Beach City Council. Born Ernest Eugene Kell Jr. on July 5, 1928, on a farm near Washburn, North Dakota, his family moved to Wilmington during the Great Depression. He graduated from Phineas Banning High School, earned an associate degree from Long Beach City College, and studied at California State University, Long Beach. Kell worked as a United States Merchant Marine and served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War. He later ran a drafting and contracting company. In 1973 he married Jackie Kell, who would later serve on the Long Beach City Council from 1998 to 2006. Kell died of cancer on April 29, 2017, at his home in the El Dorado Park neighborhood of Long Beach. He was 88.