Edmund L. Kelly[2] (born August 19, 1924) is an American politician who formerly served as General Superintendent of the Chicago Park District and 47th Ward Democratic Committeeman.

Before his park district and political career, Kelly had served as an aerial gunner in the United States Marine Corps, and played professional basketball with the NBA's Oshkosh All-Stars.

[3] Kelly grew up in a house located across from Seward Park at West Division and New Orleans Street on the Near North Side of Chicago.

[6] Kelly would later claim that, in accepting the role of General Superintendent in 1973, he turned down an offer from the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks owner Wesley Pavalon to serve as team's president.

[5] Kelly became a strong promoter of Soldier Field, the lakefront stadium owned and operated by the Chicago Park District.

[7] He worked hard to attract events to the venue, and to retain it as a home of the Chicago Bears football team, who had recently moved in there on an interim basis.

[7] In the 1970s, there was talk of possibly building a new stadium to serve as a new home to the Chicago Bears, which would compete with and jeopardize Soldier Field.

[7] However, on December 20, 1977, after earlier in the day having participated with Kelly in the opening of the new Park District field house, Daley died in office of a heart attack.

[7] Kelly continued to work to promote plans for the renovation of Soldier Field, and got Bilandic to agree in 1978 to fund $3.5 million stopgap improvements of Soldier Field, including replacing the temporary seating in the north grandstand of the stadium with a permanent structure.

A year later, while not admitting to discrimination, the Chicago Park District entered into a federal consent decree in which they agreed to spend more money in black and Hispanic neighborhoods.

[4] Kelly got into disputes with the Friends of the Parks advocacy group, as well as mayor Harold Washington (who took office in 1983).

Schulter successfully unseated the ward's Republican longtime alderman John J. Hoellen Jr., a significant foe of Mayor Daley.

[20] In retaliation, for the ward's 2003 aldermanic election, Kelly backed John "Jack" Lydon's unsuccessful attempt to unseat Schulter.

[4] When he resigned from his position as general superintendent of the Chicago Park District, he vowed to "get even" with mayor Washington in 1987.