September 26, 1938 - February 17, 2025 Montebello, CA Cleve Pell, our beloved husband, father, grandfather, and friend, passed away peacefully on February 17, 2025, while surrounded by loving family. He was 86 years old.

Cleve lived a good life – full of family, friends, happy times, and myriad achievements.

Born in San Diego, son of Charles Herbert Pell and Mattie Jo McNatt, Cleve grew up on the West Coast and Hawaii as part of a proud Navy family, while his father served around the world as a salty Chief Petty Officer. Upon graduating high school, then only 17, Cleve enlisted in the U.S. Navy. In 1958, while serving as an Electronics Technician (Sonar) in the Navy, including on USS Renshaw, he received a Presidential appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy, which were limited to only 75 each year. Cleve was tremendously proud of his family’s military service, which can be traced to the Revolutionary War.

After completing his service in the U.S. Navy, Cleve graduated college with a major in mathematics, followed by a master’s degree in mathematics/education. During college, he also played on the football team.

Cleve’s passion was to help others, so he pursued a career in public school education, joining the Montebello Unified School District in the late 1960s. During his distinguished 50-year career, he served as a teacher, coach, counselor, assistant principal, adult education principal, adult education director, and finally, Superintendent of MUSD, the third largest school district in Los Angeles County. He continued working full-time well into his 70s, ultimately retiring in 2016, leaving a legacy of dedication, integrity, distinction, and love for education.

Cleve passionately believed in empowering those from disadvantaged or humble backgrounds. He was an eternal optimist and always strove to help others achieve success: he believed in people and what they could accomplish, if given the opportunity.

Cleve expanded MUSD’s adult school program and focused his energy on ensuring that students graduated high school. Sometimes that meant being firm, especially with gang members while Assistant Principal in Bell Gardens, so his 6’1” 215-pound build helped him gently guide those who needed it. On the other hand, his down-to-earth kindness shone through when he helped vulnerable adult education students to graduate, despite their working full-time jobs and raising children. Not a day passes but a former student of his, a person he coached, or a colleague he helped comments about how Cleve made a difference in their lives –whether by making sure that a student got the class they needed, encouraging a struggling student, paying for a high school student to do an activity they couldn’t otherwise afford, righting a wrong, or redirecting someone from the wrong path back onto the right one. Given his austere childhood, Cleve was especially sensitive to those from humble backgrounds, and he exemplified a common-sense approach to life. He was also incredibly generous, willing to take the shirt off his back to help a friend.

Cleve’s favorite pastimes included going to the racetrack with friends or enjoying “happy hour” on Fridays, when he was never shy to pick up the tab. He also loved playing basketball, which he did with buddies on the “Sweathogs” team, and he continued playing tennis with friends well into his 70s. He also found joy in life’s simple pleasures, from reading the newspaper or a book on American history – one of the subjects on which he was an expert –or his daily mile-long walk around his neighborhood.

Cleve was a man of exceptional intelligence, warmth, and integrity, with a great sense of humor. Those who knew him best treasured conversations with Cleve over a beer or meal, where his sharp wit and wisdom flowed freely.

Cleve’s greatest pride was his family. He was also immensely proud of the thousands of students, mostly immigrants, who graduated on his watch, particularly through MUSD’s adult schools. Cleve often ran into his former students, kids he’d coached, or their children, who had since become educators themselves or otherwise worked at MUSD, which was particularly gratifying to him. Cleve had a special place in his heart for school district classified staff, whose hard work keeps MUSD’s schools running.

The world has lost a good man. Cleve will be deeply missed by his family, friends, colleagues, and everyone who had the chance to meet him. Cleve is survived by his wife of 59 years, Barbara, and his legacy lives on through his children Kimberly Pell and Charles Pell, and grandson Charles Estrada Pell, who was the apple of his eye. As a veteran, Cleve was laid to rest with military honors in March 2025 at Miramar National Cemetery in San Diego.