Memorial service for Richard Henry Bell

Saturday, October 29, 2016 - 2:00pm

Richard Henry Bell died peacefully on the morning of October 1st, 2016 in Northampton, Massachusetts, where he had moved earlier this year.

Richard was born in St. Louis, Missouri on May 5, 1938, and grew up in Richmond Heights, Missouri. He graduated from Vanderbilt University, in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1960. Richard continued his studies at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, where he received a BD in the Divinity School before completing a PhD in Philosophy in 1968.  Concurrent with finishing his doctorate, he held the position of Dean of Berkeley College at Yale.

In 1969, Richard moved to Wooster, Ohio to begin his teaching career at the College of Wooster’s Department of Religious Studies. He later moved to the Department of Philosophy, where he held the Frank Halliday Ferris Professor of Philosophy chair from 1984 until his retirement at the end of 2003. Over his career, his academic specialties included the philosophy of religion, moral philosophy, aesthetics, and African philosophies. Uniting his work was a desire to communicate concepts of justice, peace, compassion, ethics, and truth-seeking. Richard authored, co-authored, and edited eight books, and published more than 25 articles in academic periodicals and compendiums. More than his scholarly work, however, he was proud of the students he taught, mentored, and befriended over his career. He remained in touch and close with many of them up until his death.

Several years of his career were spent on research leave from Wooster. As a Visiting Fellow at Cambridge University in England, he had affiliations with both Clare College and Clare Hall.  He was a visiting Professor at the University of Stellenbosch, and at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, both in South Africa. In 2006, he returned to Rhodes with a Fulbright Senior Teaching and Research Grant. On other research trips, he traveled to Kenya and Tanzania to live with Maasai and Samburu communities; took a road trip through wintry Romania to visit painted monasteries; meditated in ice huts with monks, and played frisbee with nuns. He shared almost all of these adventures--and many others--with his wife Barbara, as well as his children or groups of students, who benefitted from his careful planning, considerable knowledge, and uncanny navigational skills.

As a person, he was shaped by his deep-seated belief in living a fulfilling life in service to others, and applying his academic interests to improve the way we understand one another as fellow humans. He was a social, wise, and kind man, quick with an infectious smile, and a source of inspiration to his family, friends, and generations of students. Richard was also a talented singer who sang with the Yale Russian Chorus and in his church choir.  A staunch supporter of the College of Wooster sports teams, he could often be seen cheering along his students at basketball, soccer and football games. He himself had been a football player and track and field athlete in high school and college.

In recent years, Richard struggled with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. His wife of more than fifty years, Barbara Bell, died in July 2016. He is predeceased by his parents and two brothers, Robert and Wilson. He is survived by his son Jonathan, daughter Rebecca, daughters-in-law Sarah and Koni, grandsons Zachary, Ahmad and Hadi, and sisters-in-law Marilyn and Mildred and their families.

To honor Richard’s commitment to social justice and spiritual living, gifts may be made in memory of Richard Bell to the Memorial Fund at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 353 E. Pine St. Wooster, OH 44691, or online here.

A memorial service will be held at Westminster Presbyterian Church, Mackey Hall, 353 East Pine Street, Wooster, on Saturday, October 29th, at 2:00 pm.

Books By Richard Henry Bell:

Essays on Kierkegaard & Wittgenstein: on understanding the self w/Ron Hustwit 1978

Sensing the Spirit 1984

The Grammar of the heart: new essays in moral philosophy & theology (editor) 1988

Simone Weil's philosophy of culture: readings toward a divine humanity (editor) 1993

Seeds of the Spirit: wisdom of the twentieth century w/Barbara L. Battin 1995

Simone Weil: The Way of Justice as Compassion 1998

Understanding African philosophy: a cross-cultural approach to classical and contemporary issues 2002

Rethinking justice: restoring our humanity 2007

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