Assistant Attorney General Retires After 51 Years of Dedication to Public Service

LANSING – After more than half a century of dedication to the people of Michigan, Assistant Attorney General George Elworth has retired from the Department of Attorney General, concluding a 51-year career in public service, announced Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel.

“For more than five decades, George’s service to the State of Michigan has been invaluable,” Nessel said. “His impact is evident in the laws, ordinances, and charters that continue to guide the work of our state and local communities. George will be deeply missed, and I congratulate him as he begins this next chapter.”  

A graduate of Stanford University and the University of Michigan Law School, Elworth began his long career with the Department in 1974 following a year with the Atlanta Legal Aid Society as the recipient of a Reginald Heber Smith Legal Services Fellowship, and four years as an associate at Lord, Bissell, and Brook in Chicago. He was a lieutenant on active duty in the U.S. Army Reserve (Quartermaster Corps) from 1964 to 1966 and was assigned to Army bases in South Korea and Colorado Springs, Colorado.   

During his career at the Department of Attorney General, Elworth worked in multiple divisions, including Military Affairs, Finance, and State Operations. Elworth has had an impact on communities across the state through his work, which includes reviewing proposed city and village charters, charter amendments and revisions, and the ballot language for such proposals. He has also sat on the Attorney General’s Opinion Review Board, where his knowledge of local government was invaluable to questions as wide-ranging as the incompatibility of office and the constitutionality of local smoking-ban ordinances.