John Larkins Bell Jr. ’51

John was born May 13, 1929, and came to us from Barrington (Ill.) High School.

At Princeton he was a history major, and was active in WPRU, the Student Christian Association, and Cannon Club. He roomed with Dave Lowry and Bart Rea. After attending OCS he served in the Navy from 1952 to 1955.

John was well known for his commercial apple business. His father had started the venture near Lake Zurich, Ill., calling it Bell’s Mossley Hill Orchards. John joined his father in 1956. After a study trip to New Zealand he replaced the original trees with dwarfing root stocks, concentrating 17,000 trees on 48 acres that produced 50,000 bushels a year using these high-density planting methods.

In 1954 he and Louise Bragg were married, and they ran the business together. Fire destroyed the orchard buildings in 1975, but they were insured and rebuilt.

John retired after he and Louise were divorced in 1985. He moved to Ohio and died in a nursing home in Stow Oct. 24, 2006. His father, John L. Bell Sr., and his grandson, Kyle M. Siegel, predeceased him. He is survived by his mother, Ruth; his children, Pat Siegel, John L. Bell III, and Gay Burton; his brother, Bruce; his sister, Anne McCarty; seven grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.