Bell, Laird, 1883-1965

Chicago attorney, chairman of the board of trustees of the University of Chicago, alternate U.S. delegate to 10th Assembly of the United Nations, 1955.

Laird Bell, attorney and member of the University of Chicago Board of Trustees. Bell practiced law in Chicago and was involved in a number of civic and corporate organizations. The collection contains documents from his service on the University of Chicago Board of Trustees as well as on several postwar economic projects of the U.S. government

Laird Bell was born in Winona, Minnesota in 1883. He received an A.B. from Harvard University in 1904 and a J.D. from the University of Chicago in 1907. Bell married Nathalie Fairbank in 1909 and settled in Winnetka, Illinois. He practiced law in Chicago after being admitted to the Illinois bar in 1907 and was a partner in the legal firm Bell, Boyd, Lloyd, Haddad & Burns after 1936. Bell served as president of the Winnetka Board of Education from 1919 to1923 as wells as president of the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations from 1937 to 1939. He chaired the Board of Trustees of Carleton College from 1943 to 1955 and the University of Chicago Board of Trustees from 1949 to 1953; he was a member of the Harvard University Board of Overseers from 1948 to 1954 and President of the Harvard Alumni Association in 1946. Bell was chairman of the Board of Directors of the Weyerhauser Timber Company from 1947 to 1955. He chaired the Navy Price Adjustment Board in 1944 and served in the Military Government in occupied Germany in 1945. He was an alternate U.S. Delegate to the Tenth Assemby of the United Nations in 1955 and was a member of the United States Advisory Committee on Educational Exchange from 1955 to 1960.

Bell died in Evanston, Illinois in 1965 and was buried in Winona, Minnesota

Laird Bell was born in Winona, Minnesota on April 6, 1883. He received his B.A. from Harvard in 1904 and his J.D. from the University of Chicago in 1907. Upon admission to the bar, he commenced the practice of law in Chicago. Bell, throughout his career, was active in various educational organizations, serving, for example, as chairman of the board of trustees of the University of Chicago (1949-1953), chairman of the board of trustees of Carleton College (1943-1955), and member of the board of overseers at Harvard (1948-1954).

Laird Bell was also involved in public service organizations. In 1955, he was alternate U. S. delegate to 10th Assembly of the United Nations. He died October 21, 1965.