William R Kelly, the founder of the American Temporary Staffing Agency, was born on November 21, 1905 and died at the age of 92 years old on January 3, 1998. The cause of his death was cancer. He was born in Kooksilah, Canada.

Kelly attended The Gulf Coast Military Academy and graduated at the age of 16 in 1922. He then continued his education at Vanderbilt University, he went on to graduate from the University of Pittsburgh and marry Margaret Adderley. Together they adopted their son Terrence Adderley.

It’s possible that most readers are unfamiliar with Kelly, but he made an impact on the working world that has changed how people have jobs. When a job has an opening that must be filled immediately but they are not ready to hire someone full time, the company often hires a temporary employee. Oftentimes, when a current employee has to leave suddenly or for a short period of time, it is necessary to have those tasks continue uninterrupted, and that’s why Kelly Services was created.

Kelly founded the temporary employment agency, or “temp agency”, in Detroit on October 7, 1946. The agency was renamed a few times over the years due to the growing services over the company. Because it was heavily based on secretarial jobs, the temporary employees started being called Kelly Girls in 1957. In 1966, as the jobs became more diverse, the company was renamed Kelly Services.

Today, Kelly Services is a management workforce solution company, offering staffing services to the top companies across industries. It was primarily in the United States until 1968 when the Kelly Services opened its first international office in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Kelly Services has helped over a million people each year to connecting with work forces each year and has been the model for several other services offering temporary employees around the world.