Terrel Howard Bell (1921-1996) - Find a Grave Memorial

US Presidential Cabinet Secretary. He served in the Marines during World War II, saw combat in the Pacific Theater, and was discharged as a First Sergeant. He received a bachelor's degree from Southern Idaho College in 1946 and began a career as a teacher, school administrator and college professor, earning a master's degree from the University of Idaho in 1954 and a doctorate from the University of Utah in 1961. From 1963 to 1970 he was Utah's Superintendent of Public Education, and from 1970 to 1971 he was the US Department of Health, Education and Welfare's Deputy Commissioner for School Systems. Bell served as Salt Lake City's School Superintendent from 1971 to 1974, and US Education Commissioner from 1974 to 1976. From 1976 to 1981 he was Utah's Commissioner of Higher Education. Legislation passed in 1979 divided HEW into the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Education, and in January, 1981 President Reagan appointed Bell Secretary of Education. Reagan favored abolishing the department, but Bell convinced him to push for reforms, including creation of the National Commission on Excellence in Education, which issued a well-received report, "A Nation at Risk". After leaving office in 1985 Bell taught at the University of Utah and published an autobiography, 1988's "The Thirteenth Man: A Reagan Cabinet Memoir".

Bio by: Bill McKern