Michael Kelley, passionate advocate for blue-collar workers, met his wife, former Cleveland Heights Municipal Court Judge Lynn Arko Kelley (1980), while attending night classes at Cleveland-Marshall. Kelley, nicknamed “Cleveland’s King of Torts” by Inside Business magazine, was a founding partner of the Cleveland-based firm Kelley & Ferraro, LLP, one of the largest plaintiffs’ firms in the country. Specializing in civil cases involving asbestos and other workplace health hazards, he took many personal injury and wrongful death cases to verdict and also negotiated generous settlements for workers against large corporations such as Honeywell Corp. and Halliburton. Passing away at 54 years of age, the program at his funeral service included a quote he used as his life mantra: “It’s important that we don’t lose sight of where we came from and the people who gave us that opportunity.”