12 Facts About Laird Bell

Laird Bell was a distinguished attorney and Democrat who founded a leading Chicago law firm and endowed several charitable institutions.

Laird Bell served most notably as Chairman of the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, Chairman of the University of Chicago Board of Trustees, and of Carleton College, and President of the Harvard Alumni Association.

Laird Bell was an Overseer of Harvard College from 1948 to 1954.

Laird Bell was instrumental in the establishment of the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, then, as now, based in Evanston, Illinois, serving as the first Chair of the Board of Directors.

Laird Bell was active in advising and advocating on behalf of Phil Weyerhauser during the firm's corporate changes during the Depression.

Laird Bell was eventually named Chairman of the Board of Weyerhauser, and Laird Bell was named publisher of the Chicago Daily News, when its publisher, Frank Knox died during the war, in 1944.

In foreign affairs, Laird Bell was perhaps the main "interventionist" in Chicago before World War II, when Chicago was otherwise a national center of isolationism.

Laird Bell received a KBE knighthood for his war-time activities on behalf of British War Relief.

Laird Bell resided in Chicago's northern suburbs, served on the board of several Chicago charitable organizations and was a member of the University Club.

Laird Bell was born in Winona, Minnesota, in 1883 and married Nathalie Fairbank in Chicago in 1909.

Laird Bell was a parent and Trustee at the North Shore Country Day School, where a meeting room was named after him in 1956.

Laird Bell died on October 21,1965, in the Evanston hospital.