George Bent, a successful businessman who had initially been a CARE administrator, died Sept. 17, 2013. He was 85.

After two years working for the American Friends Service Committee bringing relief to war-torn Europe, Bent entered Oberlin College in 1948 and graduated in 1952. In 1954, he earned an M.P.A. from Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School. He then joined CARE in South Korea. In 1957, he developed self-help programs in Egypt, Pakistan, and South

Korea, after which he returned to the United States in 1958.

That year, he began his business career. From 1958 to 1963, he was a business manager with Aero-Chem in Princeton. In 1963 he joined the Pfaudler Co., where he was president from 1976 to 1980. He next was manager of the robotics division of Nordson Corp. from 1980 to 1982. He was president of Ceilcote Co. in Berea, Ohio, from 1982 until retiring in 1988.

Bent served on the Oberlin College Board of Trustees for 30 years, including as chair from 1987 to 1992. In 1991, he received Oberlin’s prestigious Alumni Award.

His extended family of survivors includes his wife, Ruth, and a son. Ruth described her husband as a real treat; he made her laugh every day.

Graduate memorials are prepared by the APGA.

Graduate Class of 1954