Elliot V. Bell

News Organizations and Titles: Chairman, executive committee, McGraw-Hill, 1950-67; editor and publisher, Business Week, 1950-67; superintendent of banking, New York State, 1943-49; member, editorial board, The New York Times, 1941-42; writer and assistant financial editor, The New York Times, 1929-39; financial writer, banking and money-market specialist, The New York Herald Tribune, 1929.

Legacy: Mr. Bell, who helped found the New York Financial Writers' Association and is the namesake for the organization's Elliott V. Bell award, transformed Business Week into a broader, more pertinent publication for executives. He also considered economic ideas as news.

Journalistic Progeny: Sylvia F. Porter, Lewis H. Young, Myron Kandel, William Wolman and Michael J. Mandel.

Personal: Born Sept. 25, 1902, in New York City; died Jan. 11, 1983, in Pawling, N.Y.

Family: His wife, Amelia Lange, died Nov. 26, 1998; one daughter, Nancy Bell Hoving.

Education: Columbia College, 1925.

What he has said about himself or his publication: In 1964, Mr. Bell told his staff he was proud of the magazine's objectivity and ability "to report fairly and accurately a long list of news developments very disagreeable to the business world without alienating our readers or sacrificing our integrity."

What he made news or headlines for: In 1938, he helped found the New York Financial Writers' Association and served as the group's first president. From 1939-41, he was economic adviser to New York Gov. Thomas E. Dewey, whom he had befriended while at Columbia.

What others have said about him: Sylvia F. Porter: "Economics reporting was in a primitive stage then. Those of us who were getting into it used to wonder where it would lead. One of the few people in the field who understood what he was writing about was Elliott Bell. He helped me a lot, and I loved him for it."