The MTD is mourning the passing of former Greater Mobile Port Maritime Council Secretary-Treasurer Ed Kelly. He was 78.
After graduating from Livingston College (now called the University of West Alabama), the Mississippi native worked as a teacher as well as a college track and cross country coach. In 1981, he changed careers to become a field representative in Mobile for the MTD-affiliated Seafarers International Union, to which his father and five uncles belonged.
Kelly was involved in campaigns across the South for the SIU. He eventually became a patrolman then port agent for Mobile in 1999. He retired in 2007 and was living in Texas at the time of his death.
Kelly was the port council’s secretary-treasurer from 1999 until 2007.
In lieu of flowers, his family asked that donations be made to the Alzheimer’s Association.