Thomas Leo Bell Jr.

Thomas (Tom) L. Bell, Jr. of Englewood CO died Thursday, November 17 at Brookdale Meridian Englewood. He was 93.

He leaves his wife of 17 years, Joanne H. Kouris; three sons: Dr. John T. Bell of Cambridge MA, his wife Trudi Cohen and their son Isaac; Thomas L. Bell III of Aurora CO and his daughter Susan; Robert Platt Bell of Jekyll Island GA, and his husband Mark See; and three children of his late daughter Mary Ellen Parks by his late wife, Ellen Wiggins Bell: Julia, Steven, and John; and the Kouris daughters: Katherine; Julia; and Cynthia, her husband Brian Wilkerson and their daughter Eleah. He also leaves a sister, Barbara (Bobbi) Bell Sickels of Darien CT, three great-grandsons, one great-granddaughter, and a number of nieces, nephews and cousins.

Tom was born in Glen Ridge NJ, the first child of Lt. Col. Thomas L. Bell and Emily Louise Wilby Bell. At the age of nine, Tom joined the Junior Essex Troop Cadet Corps, 102nd Cavalry, 4th Infantry Division, New Jersey National Guard, and during his high-school years he was a riding instructor in boys' summer camps. When he went off to college, he resigned as Cadet Major of a squadron of troopers. Tom graduated from Montclair NJ College High School in 1941 and entered Massachusetts Institute of Technology on a full-tuition scholarship, joined Sigma Chi fraternity, rowed on the freshman crew, enlisted in the Army Reserve, and was activated in 1943.

After Infantry training, he completed Mechanical Engineering courses at Texas A&M University. Transferred to Ordnance, he graduated from Officer Candidate School, deployed to Italy, and was decorated as a supply officer. After 3 1/2 years of active duty, he returned to M.I.T., was president of his fraternity, rowed on the varsity crew and graduated with a B.S. degree in Business and Engineering in 1947. His first job was as a junior engineer with DeFlorez Consulting Engineers in New York City.

Tom married the former Ellen Wiggins of Larchmont NY in 1948, when he was employed as an engineer with Johnson & Johnson. He held a number of engineering, sales, and management positions with several companies before he became a consultant with Booz, Allen & Hamilton, NYC management consultants. He served a variety of business and government clients in North America and abroad. In Egypt, he was an adviser to the Ministry of Finance. He left as a Senior Associate to join Itek Corporation as Vice President and later General Manager of the Business Products Division in Rochester NY, where he and Mrs. Bell made their home for many years.

Later the Bells were residents of Lake Forest IL when Tom was Vice President of the Bell & Howell Business Equipment Group. Subsequently, he was Vice President and General Manager of the Lipe Clutch Products Group of Lipe-Rollway Corporation in Syracuse NY. He and Ellen then resided in Cazenovia NY. After 15 years Tom retired to form his own consulting company until 1987, when he and Ellen designed and built their retirement home on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay.

After Ellen died in 1998, Tom moved to Colorado to be nearer his children and grandchildren. While a houseguest of Nancy and Ted Davis, he met Joanne Kouris, was smitten, and married her in August 1999. With her encouragement, Tom became a Senior Olympian, and medaled in swimming, Nordic and alpine skiing, and men's and mixed doubles tennis.

In Denver Tom was a director of the Metropolitan Wastewater Reclamation District, director of Dartmouth Homeowners Association, Educational Counselor for M.I.T., election judge, member St. Andrews Society, M.I.T. Alumni/ae Club, patient care volunteer with Denver Hospice, and served in the All Veterans Honor Guard at Fort Logan. He was a life member of Sigma Chi and the VFW. He especially enjoyed being a communicant of St. Philip and St. James Episcopal Church.

A funeral service will be held on Saturday, December 3 at 1 p.m. at St. Philip and St. James Episcopal Church, 2797 S. Lowell Blvd, Denver CO 80236. Inurnment will be in the columbarium of St. Philip and St. James Church and at Arlington National Cemetery. Contributions may be made to St. Philip and St. James, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or your favorite charity.

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