Laird Bell

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Laird Bell (April 6, 1883 – October 21, 1965) was a prominent American attorney and Democrat who founded the Chicago law firm Bell, Boyd and Lloyd. He dedicated his life to education, charity, and public service, and held major leadership roles such as Chairman of the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, Chairman of the University of Chicago Board of Trustees, and President of the Harvard Alumni Association. He also served as an Overseer of Harvard College (1948–1954) and began his public service in education as President of the Winnetka Board of Education in 1919. Bell helped establish the National Merit Scholarship Corporation and was its first Board Chair.

He studied at Harvard University (AB, AM) and earned an LLB from the University of Chicago. His law firm later became part of the K&L Gates firm in 2009. Bell was the interim Chancellor of the University of Chicago in 1951, acting between the tenures of Robert Hutchins and Lawrence A. Kimpton, and he had been a strong defender of academic freedom during earlier disputes with state lawmakers. He was a close ally of Hutchins and, outside academia, was a senior executive and director at Weyerhaeuser Timber Co. He also served as publisher of the Chicago Daily News after its publisher died in 1944.

In foreign affairs, Bell was an early advocate for aiding the Allies before World War II and visited Nazi Germany to assist bondholders harmed by German policies. He led the Chicago chapter of the Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies (1940–41) and received a KBE for his work with British relief efforts. After the war, he advised U.S. officials on Germany’s economy under the Allied occupation and supported European reconstruction, including organizing Harvard’s 1947 commencement where George Marshall spoke.

Bell endowed chairs at Carleton College and Harvard, and the Laird Bell Law Quadrangle at the University of Chicago is named in his honor. He lived in the Chicago area, married Nathalie Fairbank in 1909, and had four daughters. He died in Evanston, Illinois, in 1965. The Laird Bell Quadrangle at UChicago was dedicated in 1966.