JAMES R. BELL, JR. , age 89, passed away peacefully, surrounded by his family at his home in Pepper Pike, on April 15, 2018.
James was the beloved husband of 38 years of the late Joan Bell (nee Wallerstedt); loving father of James (Victoria), Leslie, and John (Laura); and cherished grandfather of Margaret Bell and of Amelia Fitzgerald (Reid).
He was born April 7, 1929, the only child of Dr. James R. and Dorothy Shea Bell of Shaker Heights. He attended University School, Harvard College, and the Harvard Business School, graduating from the last as a George F. Baker Scholar in 1952. Following a brief sojourn with the Committee for Economic Development in New York and in San Francisco, he returned to Cleveland in 1954 to join the investment banking firm of Fulton, Reid & Co. For the past 55 years he was involved as a private, and usually as the principal, investor in a series of early-stage technology companies. The process of helping inventors develop concepts into companies kept him young. Devoted to his family, his work, his friends and his somewhat elusive golf game, he will be missed by all who knew him.
The family prefers that those who wish make contributions in his name to University School, 2785 SOM Center Road, Hunting Valley, OH 44022, The Hospice of the Western Reserve, 300 East 185th St., Cleveland, OH 44119 or an organization of choice.
A Celebration Reception will be held Saturday, June 9th at 11 AM at The Country Club, 2825 Lander Rd., Pepper Pike, OH, 44124.