David A. Bell, Ph.D

Dr. David A. Bell passed away peacefully on Monday, September 17, 2018. Dr. Bell served as President of Macon State College for 14 years, from 1997 to 2011. Under his tenure, Dr. Bell increased enrollment by 73%, growing from 3 bachelor programs to 18 bachelor programs with 31 total majors offered. His leadership engaged the community by building a vision for the college which almost tripled revenues and increased the number of donors over 450%. Under Dr. Bell's guidance, Macon State College was able to create the first on-campus housing for students, launch a baseball team, and to renovate the student life center, library, and Warner Robins campus, and to add the Charles H. Jones Building and the professional sciences and conference center. He was selected as the 2011 Greater Macon Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year. Dr. Bell's vision created more than 1700 jobs, with an annual economic impact in the range of $190M.

"David had the wisdom to search the business and civic and residential community to see how the presence and mission of Macon State College could make the business community more resilient, the civic community more civil and our larger community of citizens stronger and better." said Dr. Kirby Godsey, former president of Mercer University.

Dr. Bell came to the helm of Macon State College in 1997 when his late wife, Dr. Nora Bell, began her term as President of Wesleyan College. Previously he was vice president for Administrative Affairs at the University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth, one of eight academic medical centers in Texas, where he taught biomedical ethics.

Dr. Bell's professional experience includes serving as executive assistant to the chancellor at the University of North Texas in Denton; Project Director for the Dallas Education Consortium; associate provost for Institutional Planning and Research at the University of South Carolina in Columbia; associate dean of the South Carolina Honors College; dean for Academic Affairs and chair of the Division of Arts and Letters at the University of South Carolina in Lancaster.

Among his honors and awards are an appointment as a research fellow at the Center for Business Ethics in Waltham, MA; a 1981 Research and Productive Scholarship Award from the University of South Carolina; and a teaching fellowship with the Department of Philosophy at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

Originally from Long Island, Dr. Bell pursued his passion for philosophy through his studies at St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York. He earned an M.A. in Philosophy from Miami University, Oxford, OH and a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Outside of the world of academia, Dr. Bell was passionate about and accomplished in the game of tennis. In fact, when applying for his first professorship in philosophy, he was offered a job as tennis coach while he awaited a role in the classroom.

Dr. Bell is survived by his wife, Lynn Everett Bell; his children, Caroline Bell Keller (Jeff), Elizabeth LaFitte, and Thomas Bell; twelve grandchildren; his sisters, Elizabeth Bell (Jim); step-children, Holly Hall-Perry (John) and Francis Kennedy Hall III (Alexis). He is predeceased by his late wife, Dr. Nora Kizer Bell and parents, Murray Frederick Bell and Shirley Lee Posner Bell.

A celebration of Dr. Bell's life will be held in the Charles H. Jones Building at Middle Georgia State University, Wednesday, Sept 19 from 4:00 to 6:00 PM. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to Middle Georgia State University, the David A. Bell Presidential Scholarship, 100 University Parkway, Macon, Georgia 31206 or the charity of your choice.

Please visit www.hartsmort.com to express condolences.

Hart’s at the Cupola has charge of arrangements.