DETROIT, MI (AP)-- Longtime Michigan Attorney General Frank J. Kelley has died at age 96.
Kelley was affectionately called the “eternal general” for his 37 years as Michigan’s longest-serving attorney general. Kelley, a Democrat, served from 1961 to 1999, winning statewide election 10 times. He moved to Naples, Florida, in 2020 and died Friday night, according to a spokesman.
Kelley was state government’s top lawyer at a time of sweeping change in politics and culture. He was credited with creating consumer and environmental protection divisions in the attorney general’s office and was a defender of civil rights.
Kelley, a Detroit native, was a lawyer in Alpena when Gov. John Swainson appointed him attorney general in 1961.
