Founder of Taco Bell dies at 86 [Notable obituaries]

My last post before school starts will be to note the passing of an influential man in my life.

Article by the Associated Press.

Glen W. Bell Jr., an entrepreneur best known as the founder of the Taco Bell chain, has died. He was 86.Bell died Sunday at his home in Rancho Santa Fe, according to a statement posted Monday on the Taco Bell Web site….

….Bell launched his first restaurant, called Bell’s Drive-In, in 1948 in San Bernardino after seeing the success of McDonald’s. His restaurant sought to take advantage of Southern California’s car culture by serving hamburgers and hot dogs through drive-in windows.

The World War II veteran next helped establish Taco Tias in Los Angeles, El Tacos in the Long Beach area, and Der Wienerschnitzel, a national hot dog chain.

Bell launched Taco Bell in 1962 in Downey after cutting ties with his business partners and quickly expanding around Los Angeles.

He sold the first Taco Bell franchise in 1964. In 1978, Bell sold his 868 Taco Bell restaurants to PepsiCo for $125 million in stock.

Taco Bell is now owned by Yum! Brands and is the largest Mexican fast-food chain in the nation, serving more than 36.8 million consumers each week in more than 5,600 U.S. locations.

Bell is survived by his wife, Martha, three sisters, two sons and four grandchildren.

A private funeral is planned.

Now, clearly, Taco Bell is not a particularly healthy place to eat. Nor is it somewhere that you should frequently patron if you stand for supporting local foods, environmentalism & sustainability, or the dignity of Hispanics in the United States. But, despite the egregious sins of Yum!, I’ve always had a soft spot for the Bell.

For starters, it’s got the best deals. I’ve always thought fast food items should cost less than a dollar. And their value menu has many edible items at around the 80 cent mark. They also have a mean steak quesadilla.  And the idea of providing tacos as a side to more tacos has always tickled my fancy.

...I mean, my bowels can take a little bit of suffering, right?

So, today will be a special occasion in which I walk up to Taco Bell and commemorate the life of Glen W. Bell Jr., in a misguided attempt to capture some of the simplicity of my high school years, where I didn’t realize that most of my food choices are harmful to everyone and everything.