Frank Joseph Kelley (December 31, 1924 – March 5, 2021) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 50th Attorney General of the U.S. state of Michigan.

[1][2][5] Kelley was appointed Attorney General in 1961 by Governor John Swainson to fill a vacancy left when Paul L. Adams became a Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court.

Kelley was elected in his own right as the Democratic nominee ten times before his retirement [E] from the position in 1999, when he was succeeded by the future Governor of Michigan Jennifer Granholm.

[1][2] He became nationally recognized in the area of consumer protection, appearing annually on the NBC show Dateline to discuss issues such as item pricing.

President Bill Clinton acknowledged Kelley as a leading force in the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement, which resulted in most states receiving large multi-year payments to compensate them for the costs of tobacco-related illnesses.

It honored him by creating and naming after him the Kelley–Wyman Award for outstanding service and national contributions by an attorney general.

[1][2] He later credited the controversy over desegregation school busing and the weakness of Democratic presidential nominee George McGovern as major contributing factors in his 47– 53 percent loss.

[J] In 1993, the Michigan Constitution was amended to place term limits on many elected offices, including Attorney General.

However, they did not explain why, if that was true, voters continued re-electing Kelley, or why Austin was in fact finally defeated.

[M] The Michigan State University College of Law has established the Frank J. Kelley Institute of Ethics in his name.

[20] In 1998, the State Bar of Michigan created the Frank J. Kelley Distinguished Public Service Award and named him its first recipient.

"[10] In 2015, Wayne State University Press published his autobiography, titled The People's Lawyer: The Life and Times of Frank J. Kelley, the Nation's Longest Serving Attorney General.

[1] Lessenberry wrote that Kelly began in "the rollicking days of Prohibition", and with inspiration from John, Bobby and Teddy Kennedy, "went on to essentially invent consumer and environmental protection in the state of Michigan", and "crusaded for civil rights and equal representation before it was popular to do so.