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Major Tennessee Newspaper Highlights UCP Board Member Kevin Kelly (7/20/04)
Through Struggles and Victories, Kevin Kelly's Passions Keep Him on Life's Front Lines
The Commercial Appeal
Memphis, Tennessee
By Laura Coleman Noeth
July 20, 2004
It's a beautiful display case, framed in oak, several inches deep, covered by glass. In it is a Viet Cong machete, a pair of uniforms, a typed description of heroism.
Kevin Kelly made that case, displayed on the wall of a stairway in his East Memphis home, to illustrate his military career and that of his late father-in-law, Byron Mansfield.
He sees it only from the first floor. His legs won't carry him up the staircase to get a closer look.
But Kelly, 60, doesn't need a museumlike exhibit to remind himself of war or to let him know that his life so far has been one that's seen its struggles and its victories.
Besides, it tells only part of the story of a life that's been a mosaic of experiences.
Friends and business associates know him as a man who describes himself as either a "liberal Republican or conservative Democrat," a man who won't claim any party affiliation although he's actively supporting Democratic Sen. John Kerry's presidential campaign.
He is a founder of Vietnam Veterans Against the War and a graduate of Leadership Memphis, a program that focuses on leadership aimed at improving the community.
He grew up in New York but has called Memphis home for 27 years.
He helped bring Pat O'Brien's restaurant and bar to Memphis and, through a multitude of enterprises, jobs to hundreds.
In all of his pursuits, whether in business, charitable work or politics, his passion for credibility and leadership is at the forefront, those who know him say.
"He's a fellow with very deep personal convictions," said Jimmy Reed, president of Marx & Bensdorf Real Estate and a former neighbor of Kelly's. "He's worldly enough to have awfully valid insights about what's going on in politics and in the world in general."
For nearly three years, Kelly, a former full-court basketball player and avid skier and tennis player, has had his activity limited to what he can do from a motorized chair.
Several years ago, he noticed problems with his muscle control, problems that have progressed so severely that he has difficulty speaking, can't walk and needs daily assistance.
"I call it 'Kelly's Disease,' " he says, explaining that, despite a battery of tests, doctors have not made a clear diagnosis. They liken it to Lou Gehrig's disease.
"I think eventually it will kill me," Kelly says matter-of-factly. He's convinced it was caused by exposure to Agent Orange during his time in Vietnam.
Without talking much about how much time he has, Kelly talks about using whatever level of energy and time he has on pursuits that meet his passions.
"I've always tried to have a good reputation in business. We're always honest. We tell people what the deal is. We don't hide anything. We treat people fairly."
Kelly, as head of The Pentad Group in Germantown, oversees several enterprises, including Medical Outcomes Management, a company that provides assistance to diabetics, SkiTote, a distributor of containers to haul ski equipment, and a multitude of real estate ventures.
And there's his 40 percent interest in Pat O'Brien's on Beale Street, a club he calls a good investment and a contribution to the community.
His political involvement stems from Kelly's service in Vietnam. He came out of the war with two Silver Stars and three Bronze Stars.
And with a changed view of how the United States has gone about fighting wars. Kelly is a major local supporter of John Kerry's effort to become president. Kelly met Kerry decades ago after both returned from Vietnam and were involved in protests against the war.
"That war was a revolution and we were supporting a dictator," he said. "Fifty-five thousand people died for political purposes, they were like political fodder, and that didn't seem right to me."
Kelly enlisted in the Army after graduating from Columbia University in New York and before getting his MBA at Dartmouth.
It was important to Kelly that, as a decorated war veteran, he and other veterans should speak against the war.
Though there was a loosely knit group of veterans against the war some years earlier, Kelly and Jan Barry Crumb organized Vietnam Veterans Against the War, an organization that still exists and opposes the war in Iraq.
"He was a ball of energy, very articulate," remembers Crumb, now a reporter for the Bergen Record in New Jersey. Kelly and others appeared in protests and on television talk shows.
While working against the war and helping candidates who opposed it, Kelly met Susan Mansfield, who he said was more liberal than he was then. The two have since come closer together in their political beliefs. They've been married nearly 34 years and have one son, Christopher, 30.
"I couldn't make it without her," says Kelly.
After the war, Kelly started gaining ground in the real estate business, moving to Memphis in 1977.
He became friends with Tom Engel when the two would meet at their sons' activities at Lausanne school.
Engel, who now heads a Boston consulting firm, laughs one minute and is overcome with emotion the next as he talks about his friend.
"I call him "Two-gun Kelly" because he has one of the quickest minds I've ever seen. It's like in the old West, where the guys in the shootout had two guns, they were so quick.
"What I always find fascinating about conversations with Kevin is that you can't take his opinion for granted. Kevin has an opinion about everything, and if he doesn't, he'll do the research to form an opinion."
But then the telephone conversation goes quiet. Engel apologizes for breaking down as he remembers seeing Kelly earlier this summer and realizing how far his friend's disease has progressed.
"The last time we were together we talked about not knowing how much time he has…. It just seems like he's been dealt such a bitter hand and I don't like it. He's served his country, he's worked hard, he's the American dream entrepreneur, you know?"
Several months ago, the United Cerebral Palsy's national organization decided to revamp its leadership. Kelly, who as a teenager volunteered at a cerebral palsy center in New York, was elected as a trustee, then, immediately after that, as treasurer of the board.
"He comes off as very self-assured and strong, but at the same time he absolutely listens to reason," said Stephen Bennett, the organization's president and chief executive officer.
"He's clearly a leader, and, in a nice way, he takes no prisoners," said Bennett.
Throughout the years, and especially as Kelly's illness progresses, he and Susan have met their struggles head-on.
"We're taking it one step at a time," she said. "We're hanging on to as much of our previous life as possible. We think about the things he can still do rather than what he no longer can do. We're blessed. We could be lots worse off. We've always been very committed to the long run."
To which Kelly enthusiastically responded:
"We're in this together forever."
- Laura Coleman Noeth: 529-5853
Copyright 2004, commercialappeal.com - Memphis, TN. Used with permission.