James Francis Kelley (July 27, 1902 – September 11, 1996) was an American Roman Catholic monsignor who was one of the nation's youngest college presidents when he was appointed as a 33-year-old in 1936 to lead Seton Hall College and grew the school's enrollment tenfold before he left the position in 1949, shortly before it became Seton Hall University.

[4] During his tenure, he oversaw the admission of women and the construction of the Walsh Gymnasium, as part of a project initiated in 1939 that would cost $600,000 (equivalent to $13.1 million in 2023).

[5] He was named as a monsignor by Pope Pius XII in 1941, making him the youngest priest in the Newark Archdiocese to be recognized with that designation.

[4] He was named as a pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Ridgewood, New Jersey, where he served for more than two decades and was actively involved in community organizations.

[1] In 1991, Kelley told a reporter investigating the disappearance of Amelia Earhart, that she had survived the war and that he had been ordered by Francis Joseph Spellman to repatriate her to the United States, where she lived as Irene Craigmile Bolam.