He attended public and private schools and served as a clerk in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

He learned the printing trade and published the Kings County Republican from 1889 to 1914.

Kissel became a member of the New York State Republican Committee in 1886; was Clerk to the Board of Supervisors of Kings County in 1894 and 1895; and engaged in the brewery business.

Afterwards, he became a general tax consultant with offices in Brooklyn and was employed as an attendant at the Empire State Building.

He died on October 3, 1938, in Brooklyn, and was buried at the Lutheran Cemetery in Glendale, Queens.