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SPOTLIGHT
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Peter Bell Memorial Service
A reception will be held after the service at the Gloucester House Restaurant.
At the time of his death, Peter was a senior research fellow at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and had been chair of the NGO Leaders Forum, a gathering of the heads of America’s largest humanitarian non-governmental organizations.
These positions were his latest endeavors in a life-long series of roles dedicated to reducing poverty and protecting human rights, work he once referred to as a “calling” rather than a career.
He went to work for the Ford Foundation after receiving a master’s degree from the Woodrow Wilson School of International Affairs at Princeton University, working for 12 years in Brazil and Chile. Those were eventful years in both countries and Peter was at the center of efforts to preserve and protect human rights under military dictatorships.
In Chile, where he became head of the Foundation’s office, he was declared a “suspicious person” by the government and warned by the United States government that he should leave the country. He stayed, however, and with the Foundation’s support helped save the lives and careers of hundreds of Chilean scientists and scholars, many of whom at some point had been detained and tortured.
After leaving Ford he was Special Assistant and then Deputy Under Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare during the administration of President Jimmy Carter.
He left government to work with many organizations, all involved in international programs to alleviate poverty and improve conditions for the poor and disadvantaged. Among them was CARE, which he headed from 1995 until his retirement in 2006.
In a tribute to Peter on its website, care.org, the organization acclaimed him as an “unwavering champion for the rights of the poor, for social justice (who) had an important role in shaping CARE into the organization it is today….Peter also emphasized the need to go beyond responding to the consequences of poverty to tackling its root causes.”
A full obituary will appear in the next issue of The LAFF Society newsletter. Following are tributes from people who worked with him.
Peter Hakim worked with Peter in the Foundation’s office in Chile and with Ford programs in Argentina, Brazil and Peru:
“Peter’s story is one of vision, courage, simple decency and a constant drive to perfection – in the Ford Foundation and since.
“He was a leader of efforts to abandon the Foundation’s mostly technocratic, instrumental approach to government and give essential attention to politics and values as well. In Brazil, in 1968, he orchestrated a grant to CEBRAP, the social science center established by Fernando Henrique Cardoso and others ousted from the University of Sao Paulo. Peter got the CEBRAP grants approved despite the unease of Foundation officers, the warnings of a CIA official and even doubters within CEBRAP.
“In Chile in 1971, Peter moved quickly to reshape the Foundation’s program so it reached beyond one political party. He built a grant portfolio that reflected Chile’s political and ideological diversity. In the process, he secured the credibility and access the Foundation subsequently needed to respond to the military repression following Salvadore Allende’s overthrow in 1973.
“What the Foundation did was to assist a great number of academics and policy analysts pursue their careers outside Chile, where they feared their lives were in danger. It aided an even greater number continue their work in the country, often in institutions it helped create. Nothing the Foundation did in Chile – perhaps in Latin America – received more attention or is more remembered.
“Peter led the Foundation to the political decision to close its office in Chile – to repudiate the military government’s repression of intellectual and artistic activities, but without ending its support forn those activities. Despite the objections of the executive vice president, President McGeorge Bundy agreed that this was the appropriate course.
“Peter and I long wondered precisely why the Foundation’s actions were so highly praised and so well remembered, in Chile and elsewhere. We knew we had done nothing heroic or of great risk. The Foundation had simply acted with decency and intelligence. It was a powerful combination that personified Peter throughout his life.”
Michael Shifter, president of the Inter-American Dialogue, of which Peter Bell was a co-founder and co-chair of the Board of Directors, worked as a Foundation representative in Peru. This excerpt is from a tribute to Peter on the website of the Dialogue:
“It is hard to overstate Peter’s role in shaping the Dialogue over the past three decades. He generously shared his judgment, wisdom, and high ethical standards – and did so with great modesty. He was committed to Latin America and more constructive Inter-American relations, based on mutual trust and respect….
“Peter’s passing is a tremendous loss for the Dialogue – and for so many who had the good fortune to work with him and were touched by his unselfish and caring nature. We honor the myriad contributions that made the world a better place.”
Ana Toni, chief executive officer of Public Interest and Management Consulting in Rio de Janiero, worked in the Foundation’s office in Rio from 2003 to 2011:
“Peter Bell left a huge legacy to the Brazilian Office. The essential and very difficult role that the Foundation played during the Brazilian dictatorship, especially for being an American foundation, created the conditions for Ford’s important work during the democratization process.
“Peter’s leadership and legacy was the foundation of this Brazil office as an important and active player until now in the fight for social justice in our country. Thank you Peter.”
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