[2][3] Kieliszek was born and raised in The Bronx, New York City, in 1925,[2] the eldest of five children in an Irish Catholic family.

[2][6] Eleanor Kieliszek had decided to relocate to New Jersey from Bedford–Stuyvesant due to the neighborhood's cement playground and lack of parks for her children.

[2] Her presence was noted by Matthew Feldman, the then-Mayor of Teaneck from 1962 to 1966, who appointed her to a seat on the township Planning Board.

[3] During her first term on the council, Kieliszek headed the Planning Board and co-chaired the township's American Revolution Bicentennial Committee with Deputy Mayor Isaac McNatt.

On the evening of April 10, 1990, the Teaneck Police Department responded to a call from a resident complaining about a teenager with a gun.

After an initial confrontation near Bryant School and a subsequent chase, Phillip Pannell, an African-American teenager, was shot and killed by Gary Spath, a white Teaneck police officer.

There was a lot of anger and frustration among the youth, the African-American community and law enforcement ... She allowed everyone to have a voice and was really one of the forces that helped right the ship.

[2] She often met with local politicians and civic leaders, including future Teaneck mayor Mohammed Hameeduddin during his first run for council in 2008.

I sat in her house for a good 2½ hours while she talked about the entire history of Teaneck, what it means to be on the council, and what my job would be.