Founder Celes King III    Founder    Chairman    Advisors

Celes King III was born on September 18, 1923 at St. Luke hospital in Chicago, Illinois. As a child he developed a love of flying, while playing with wooden airplanes. He would ride his bike on the runway of the Chicago Municipal airport to watch the planes take off and land for hours.

He came to Los Angeles with his parents in 1938 after his family purchased the "Dunbar" hotel. He met his future wife, Anita Lugo Givens, and in 1942 they were married.

During WWII he enlisted in the military service and became a pilot in the "Tuskegee Airman Squadron"

After completing his military service he returned to Los Angeles and founded King Bail Bond Agency with his father in 1951

In 1989 Celes King III founded Core-CA. Celes King III, together with dedicated supporters brought some key qualifications to the job of State Chairman of CORE California.  Somewhere along the way Celes King had become a General in the California National Guard, as well as the first African American in California to become a General bonding Agent.  In this particular capacity the General, who is always an active promoter of others, was able to sponsor most of the other first stage African Americans entering the Bail Bond Business in Southern California. 

The General served several terms as President of the National and State Associations of Bail Bond Agents.  General King, had also gained a valuable set of experience tools as a longtime President of the Los Angeles branch of the NAACP,.  In that capacity he had been able to nurture such future talented leaders such as the young Maxine Waters, Yvonne Burke and a host of others.

Celes King served as President of the Los Angeles  City human Relations Commission and in that capacity created the first “Rumor Control Operation and other innovations in the wake of the 1965 Watts Rebellion.   Celes King State Chair of CORE-CA frequently joined with NAACP, Urban League and all of the other Civil Rights and Civil Liberties oriented organizations in press conferences and mobilizations and even conducted hearings on the firing of the Police Chief.

In the past 16years General King served as confidante and advisor to Governors, Mayors, Police Chiefs, Sheriffs and other elected officials and has served as State Chairman of California CORE dealing with individual cases,  media campaigns, and pivotal actions such as the 1990 and2000 redistricting of the state and Federal Legislatures. Everywhere General King Goes, he manages to take someone with him.  He has mentored countless numbers of young people and many of these by now have risen to roles of prominence while retaining a sense of service 

Celes and Anita King raised a  family of four children and now have grand children and great-grandchildren.The Celes King Bail Bond Office side-rooms have become the unofficial Town Hall of South Central Los Angeles.

In April, 2003 Celes King III passed away. He was 79 years old. He will always be remembered.

(See the full article written by Adrian Dove, State Chairman)