Class of 1970

James Ellison

Longest Serving Mayor of Royal Oak

Original Chair of Woodward Dream Cruise

Royal Oak Citizen of Year, 2002

Inducted into Royal Oak High School Hall of Fame, 2014

Jim Ellison is a life-long resident of Royal Oak and a 1970 graduate of Royal Oak Kimball High School. He did not participate in many extra curricular activities while in high school because his outside work took up much of his time. He and his wife Jodie have raised a family of 8 children and currently enjoy their 6 grandchildren.

Jim Ellison spent twenty-five years employed as a cost estimator and project manager for Barton Malow Construction. He is currently working for the Royal Oak Recycling Company.

Mr. Ellison has been an active member of the Royal Oak community. At the tender age of 21 he was one of the youngest members of the Jaycees to hold an executive position, serving as the secretary of his local chapter. Jim has been an active member of his church and a coach and board member of the Royal Oak Scoccer Association. In the 1980’s he chaired the citizens traffic committee. Mr. Ellison has been an active supporter of the Stagecrafters Community Theatre in Royal Oak and chaired their board of directors for two years. In 1995 he was recognized as the Stagecrafters Member of the Year.

In 1991 Jim Ellison was elected to the Royal Oak City Commision. While on the commission he became a part of the city planning commission and the Woodward Dream Cruise Committee. He served as chairman of the Dream Cruise Committee the first three years of its existance. In 2002 he was selected Royal Oak’s Citizen of the year.

Jim Ellison was first elected Mayor of Royal Oak in 2003 and has been re-elected five times. That makes him the longest serving mayor in the history of Royal Oak. As mayor for over ten years he has experienced the fun of presiding at weddings and the anguish of downsizing local government. Recently he saw the people of the city deal with a major flood. On the brighter side, in the fall of 2014 a national real estate firm published a list of the happiest small towns in America. Royal Oak is number 8 on that list. Jim Ellison had a lot to do with us making that list.

The local paper desribes Jim Ellison as a thoughtful, harworking leader who loves this city and the people in it. He is a great ambassador for the city of Royal Oak.