Philip Bell was born in New York City and died in Kennett Square, Pa., Aug. 1, 2007, at age 82. He and his family were active Quakers.

He came to Princeton from Exeter in 1942, and served as a flight instructor in the Army Air Corps during the war. He received his bachelor’s in 1947, a master’s from Berkeley in 1949, and a Ph.D. from Princeton in 1954, all in economics. Following that, he worked for a year with George Kennan ’25 at the Institute for Advanced Study.

Phil had a very distinguished and varied career as a university teacher and administrator throughout the world, publishing 12 books and monographs and more than 30 scholarly articles. He was the founding provost of Merrill College at UC, Santa Cruz in 1967, and was inducted into the Accounting Hall of Fame in 2003.

He is survived by his wife, Jean Wyeth Bell; his first wife, Katherine Hubbard Bell; his children, Susan, Geoffrey, Mary Ellen, and James; and their spouses and children. His Princeton relatives included his father, three brothers (see memorial for Christy Bell ’44 on page 52), and niece Barbara Bell Shea ’74.

Graduate Class of 1954
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Undergraduate Class of 1946