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Ben Shelly

Ben Shelly (6 July 1947-22 March 2023) was the Democratic President of the Navajo Nation from 11 January 2011 to 12 May 2015, succeeding Joe Shirley Jr. and preceding Russell Begaye.

Biography[]

Ben Shelly was born in Thoreau, New Mexico in 1947 to a Navajo family. He worked as a supervisor for a heavy equipment company in Chicago before becoming a mechanic back on the Navajo Nation in 1976, and he served on the Navajo Nation Council from 1991 to 2007. Shelly served as Vice President of the Navajo Nation from 2007 to 2011 before serving as President from 2011 to 2015, but he lost re-election in 2014 and died in 2023.

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