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Obituaries

Retired U.S. District Court Judge Sam H. Bell, 84, began judicial career in Cuyahoga Falls

In retirement, the Silver Lake resident taught at the College of Wooster.

Retired U.S. District Court Judge Sam H. Bell began his career on the bench at Cuyahoga Falls Municipal Court in 1968.

From 1973 until 1977, he served on Summit County Common Pleas Court.

The Silver Lake resident, who died Dec. 23 at age 84, was on the Ninth District Ohio Court of Appeals before President Ronald Reagan nominated him to the U. S. District Court's Northern District of Ohio on Nov. 23, 1982. The Senate confirmed him within a month.

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In 1996, Bell assumed senior status, which reduced his caseload. After retiring in September 1998, he taught pre-law courses at the College of Wooster.

"Sam was a teacher," said Judge Kim Hoover of , which replaced the Cuyahoga Falls court two years ago. "He was always very interested in lifting up the practicing members of the bar. He always wanted the law students to be better and better. Sam is considered by most of us as the greatest judge we ever knew."

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Bell was born in Rochester, NY, and grew up in Akron.

The Buchtel High School graduate received a bachelor's degree from the College of Wooster in 1947. He did postgraduate work at American University in Washington, D.C. He earned a law degree from University of Akron School of Law in 1952.

During the 1950s and '60s, Bell served as an assistant Summit County prosecutor, had a private practice in Cuyahoga Falls and was special counsel for the Ohio attorney general. He spent two years in the mid-1960s as an assistant solicitor and special trial counsel for the city of Tallmadge.

He and his first wife, Joyce Elaine Shaw, raised two sons: Henry W. of Schaumburg, IL, and Steven D. of Bath. After Joyce's death, Bell married Jennie Lee McCall in 1983. In addition to his second wife and two sons, six grandchildren survive.

Private services were held. Arrangements were by of Cuyahoga Falls.

Memorial donations, earmarked for the Bell Lectureship, may be made to the College of Wooster, Office of Development, 1101 North Bever St., Wooster, OH 44691; or to Pawsibilities, The Humane Society of Greater Akron, 7996 Darrow Road, Twinsburg, OH 44087. 

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