Mother of Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison dies from COVID-19 complications

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – The family of Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison says his 82-year-old mother died last month from COVID-19 complications.

Clida Martinez Ellison died March 26 in Michigan. Her grandson, Minneapolis City Council member Jeremiah Ellison, wrote in a New York Times editorial Wednesday that he found out last week his grandmother tested positive for the coronavirus.

Attorney General Keith Ellison has responded to scams, evictions and price-gouging related to COVID-19. He told the St. Paul Pioneer Press on Wednesday his mother was “just one of those people who held the sky up and you never thought you’d be without and suddenly here we are.”

Originally from Natchitoches, Louisiana, Clida Martinez Ellison was a child advocate and social worker. She graduated from Xavier University with a bachelor’s degree in medical technology and went back to college at age 57 to earn a master’s degree in social work. Keith Ellison was among her five sons.