Entrepreneur. He founded the fast food restaurant chain, Taco Bell. Born in Lynwood, California, he was one of six children to Glen and Ruth Johnson Bell. When he was 12 years old, his family moved to a small farm near San Bernardino. Facing hard times during the Great Depression, in 1939 at the age of 16, Glen left the family to "ride the rails" in search of work. When World War II broke out, Glen joined the Marine Corps, and served in the Pacific, without any noticeable distinction. Leaving the military in 1946, he returned to San Bernardino, where he purchased a surplus Army truck and became an independent hauler of goods. He then leased a miniature golf course, but it eventually failed. He married Dorothy Taylor in 1947, but with the growing pressure of failing businesses, his marriage ended in divorce in 1953. He would later marry again, to Martha Bell, and would have three children: Kathleen, Gary and Rex. He then tried to make a go of a hot dog stand, hoping to cash in on the growing Southern California car culture by offering fast, prompt service and a streamlined menu with standardized food such as hot dogs, hamburgers, French fries, and milk shakes. Soon he had numerous competitors, all offering the same style of food. A lover of Mexican food, he decided to switch to Mexican style food in a format that would provide the car driver with a quick meal that was different from hamburgers or hot dogs. His major change to the fast Mexican food process was to change from soft tortillas (which required stuffing, rolling, and frying – a time consuming process) to hard, preformed and pre-fried shells which could be quickly stuffed with a variety of ingredients. In 1954, with two partners, he opened his first Mexican restaurant, Taco Tia, selling tacos for 19 cents each. Within two years, he and his partners had three Mexican restaurants, and in 1957, he began a second chain of Mexican restaurants with three new partners, the El Taco. After opening four El Taco restaurants, he grew tired of having to answer to his partners all the time, and sold out his interest in 1962. Using the money that he gained from his selling his part of the El Taco business, he opened his first Taco Bell, in Downey, California, and within two years, had opened eight additional restaurants. Working without partners proved to be his key to success. By 1978, he sold his 868 franchised restaurants chain to PepsiCo (the Pepsi Cola Company) for $125 million, retiring at the age of 55. PepsiCo has subsequently expanded the business to over 5,600 restaurants by 2009, in the United States and around the world.