Bell, former Toledo Blade biz journalist, dies at 90

Ned Bell, a business reporter who worked at the Toledo Blade for 30 years, died July 13 at the age of 90.

Mike Sigov of The Blade writes, “Mr. Bell retired from The Blade in February, 1996, after 37 years in the newspaper business, including 30 years with The Blade, of which the last nearly 10 years he was the farm editor while continuing to write a weekly column and daily stories for the business section.

“‘He also was a true gentleman,’ Mr. Chavez said. ‘He never had a bad word for anybody. And he was almost grandfatherly — he was always kind, funny, and had a life lesson to tell.’

“Greg Braknis, who as business editor was Mr. Bell’s direct supervisor during his last two years with The Blade, described Mr. Bell as one of the nicest people he ever met, ‘just a really kind, generous, easy-to-talk-to person.’

“‘I really liked him as a person and as a reporter,’ Mr. Braknis said. ‘In today’s jargon, he was very much an old-time reporter. He was very heavily focused on getting the facts right and not putting a lot of spin or perspective into the stories. …  And he did a good job covering the community.'”

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