Former professor Robert L. Bell Jr. passed away Sept. 18 at age 89. He taught psychology at Rice University and made history as the university's first Black administrator.
After graduating from high school at 16, he earned a bachelor’s degree from Texas Southern University and his master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Texas at Austin. He was the first Black person to earn a Ph.D. in psychology from UT-Austin.
Bell practiced psychology at Houston’s Veteran’s Affairs Hospital before joining Rice in 1970 as a part-time psychological consultant in Rice’s tutorial program. He left to join Vassar College for a short time and came back full-time to Rice in 1973 as professor of psychology and director of student advising. He stayed with the university through 1982, leaving for private practice.
His family recalls how active Bell was in his advanced age.
“He became a marathon runner in his later years at the age of 60, and he ran his last one in his 80s,” his granddaughter Millicent Grant said. “It’s never too late to become a runner. He ran every day.”
Grant also described his influence in her life.
“It’s just a big inspiration for all of us,” she said. “He’s someone we all looked up to, admired and wanted to be like. He inspired me to go to graduate school.”
Bell was preceded in death by his wife Mattye Roberts Bell, sisters Alma Bell and Helen Stearn and brother Edward Bell. He is survived by siblings Addie Vital, Ann Zachary, Rosie Meza and Charles Bell; children Allison Bell and Millicent Green and her husband Frank; grandchildren Madison Green and Millicent Grant and her husband Milo Taylor; and several nieces and nephews.
A memorial service will be held 1-2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 18, at the Rice Memorial Chapel.