Howard Bell Jr.

HOWARD EDWARD BELL JR., 84 BONITA SPRINGS, Fla. - Howard Edward Bell Jr., 84, died at 2:45 p.m. Monday, June 13, 2011, at Joanne's House at Hope Hospice in Bonita Springs. He was born May 15, 1927, in Colfax, Iowa, son of Howard E. and Loretta Bonicamp Bell. Howard was a Rockford, Ill., resident from 1953 to 1998, moving from Des Moines, Iowa. He spent winters in southwest Florida before becoming a year-round Florida resident Jan. 2, 1998. He married Nadine Louise Bright on June 17, 1951, in Des Moines. He was educated in the Colfax Public Schools, served in the U.S. Navy 1945-46, attended Duke University, and graduated from the University of Iowa in Iowa City with BSC and MA degrees. He was a member of Alpha Tau Omega fraternity. Howard was employed as national bank examiner before moving to Rockford to become auditor of Third National Bank, which became First National Bank & Trust Co., Bank One and JPMorgan Chase. He became assistant cashier, vice president, executive vice president, director and, in 1973, chairman, president and CEO. In 1982 he helped organize First Community Bancorp, a bank holding company for First Bank of Loves Park, First Bank of Roscoe, Northtowne National Bank, Guaranty National Bank and First National of Rockford, all in Illinois. He served as president and CEO of the holding company until 1985, when he became chairman. He remained on the board of Bank One Rockford until February 1995, concluding 35 years as a director. Howard loved his banking career but abhorred the intrusion of government agencies and regulators as he neared retirement. Credit scores and out-of-town committee decisions replaced one-on-one loan negotiations. Lenders were told where and how and to whom they should grant loans. Howard was proud of his Iowa roots. For years his Illinois license plate read simply IOWABOY; his Florida license plate reads UOF IOWA. His father was a banker for 60 years in Colfax, where he set a paternal example for customer concern and community service. As a result, Howard became an enthusiastic volunteer in Rockford, where he was president of the Y's Men's Club of the YMCA, University Club of Rockford, Rockford Area Chamber of Commerce, Visiting Nurses Association, Rockford Rotary Club, Council of 100, United Way Services and the Rockford Area Hawkeye Club. He was actively involved at Second Congregational Church in Rockford, where he was a longtime treasurer of its foundation, a member and chairman of its board of trustees and its moderator. He was also chairman of the board of counselors and the board of trustees of Rockford College, where he remains trustee emeritus. He served on the boards of the Illinois Bankers Association, American Red Cross, The Salvation Army, Greater Rockford Development Committee, United Citizens for Community Unit School District, Citizens Good Schools Committee, Central City Council, Rockford-Winnebago County Cost-Control Task Force, SwedishAmerican Hospital Medical Foundation and Central City Action Committee. He served as chairman of the Illinois Bankers Bankpac, county campaign director for the March of Dimes, County chairman of Citizens for State Constitutional Convention, as well as Citizens Committee for Parks. He was the general chairman of the United Way campaign in 1987. In 1959 he was selected by the Jaycees as Young Man of the Year. He received a Rotary Service Above Self Award in 1981. He was given a Rockford Park District Distinguished Service Award in 1983 and an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Rockford College in 1986. In 1988, he was presented the Rockford Register Star's Excalibur Award for extraordinary community service. He was a member of the First Presbyterian Church in Bonita Springs, 50-year member of Preston Lodge A.F.& A.M. Prairie City (Colfax), Iowa, the Consistory of the Valley of Freeport, Ill., and the Tebala Temple A.A.O.N.M.S. of Rockford and a 50-year member of the Colfax, Iowa, American Legion Post. He was given a lifetime honorary membership in the Rockford Rotary Club. Member of the Bonita Bay Club in Bonita Springs and a former member of the Vineyards Country Club in Naples and the Rockford Country Club. During his retirement in Florida, he enjoyed his weekly bridge and golf games and especially playing his clarinet with the New Horizons Band in Bonita Springs, where he noted that he was probably the only 80-year-old man in SW Florida playing a 70-year-old clarinet. As a teenager in Colfax, he was a member of the Dixieland Kids who toured Midwest county fairs one summer and elsewhere during the winter, including the WHO radio Barn Dance in Des Moines. He played in the Colfax High School marching and concert bands and in the University of Iowa Marching Band. His musical sabbatical lasted 55 years while he stored his clarinet in the closet and devoted his years to his family and his banking career. After joining the New Horizons Concert Band in Bonita Springs, he joyfully returned to his musical love by playing with the Dixieland Disciples at retirement and neighborhood communities in SW Florida. Survived by wife, Nadine; sons Howard E. Bell III (Katie) of Onalaska, Wis., and J. Scott Bell (Karen) of Peoria, Ill.; granddaughters Sarah Marie Bell, Lauren Elizabeth Bell of Peoria and Laura Louise Bell of Onalaska; grandson, Parker Hubert Bell of Onalaska; sister, Mary Elizabeth (Mrs. George) Bailey lives in West Palm Beach. Memorial service at 11 a.m. Saturday, July 30, at Second Congregational Church in Rockford. A memorial service at First Presbyterian Church in Bonita Springs will be held in the fall. Cremains will be inurned by the family at a private service in Scandinavian Cemetery in Rockford. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent to the Nadine and Howard Bell Scholarship Fund at Rockford College; First Presbyterian Church in Bonita Springs to benefit the music program; and Joanne's House of Hope Hospice in Bonita Springs. Cremation arrangements by Shikany's Bonita Funeral Home in Bonita Springs, and further arrangements by Fred C. Olson Funeral Chapel in Rockford.