Peter Bell, an internationally known humanitarian who dedicated his life to reducing poverty and protecting human rights, died of cancer April 4, 2014. He was 73.
After graduating from Yale in 1962, Bell earned his master’s degree from the Woodrow Wilson School in 1964. He then spent 12 years with the Ford Foundation, and experienced juntas in Brazil and Chile. As head of the Ford Foundation in Chile, Bell was declared a “suspicious person” by the Pinochet regime and the U.S. ambassador advised him to leave the country. Bell remained, however, and with colleagues saved the lives and careers of hundreds of Chilean scientists and scholars (many of whom had been detained or tortured).
After the Ford Foundation, Bell was deputy undersecretary of HEW in the Carter administration, president of the Inter-American Foundation, senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment, and president of the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation and then of CARE (1995 to 2006).
After retiring from CARE, he continued writing and speaking on poverty reduction, human rights, and peacemaking. In 2003, Bell received Princeton’s James Madison Medal. He chaired the Wilson School’s Advisory Council from 1992 to 2000.
Bell is survived by his wife, Karen; two children (including Emily *04); and two granddaughters.
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