Former Agriculture Secretary, Riceland Foods CEO Richard Bell Dies

Former Arkansas Agriculture Secretary and former Riceland Foods CEO Richard Bell passed away on Friday, Talk Business & Politics has confirmed.

Bell, a 2003 inductee in the state’s Business Hall of Fame, had been in ill health for some time.

Bell retired as president and CEO from Riceland Foods, one of the world’s largest millers of rice, in July 2004. He worked for Riceland for 27 years.

Bell was appointed as Arkansas’ first Agriculture Secretary in 2005 by then-Gov. Mike Huckabee. He served in the position until 2012.

Huckabee issued a statement Friday night saying, “I was deeply saddened to learn of the death of Richard Bell, who was the first Secretary of Agriculture in our state. His vast knowledge of the entire agricultural landscape and the respect that he earned from everyone in the agri world, made him the best choice to launch the state’s Agriculture Department when it was created. It took a lot of persuasion to get Dick to agree to accepting the post, but there was no one I could think of better suited for the job and Dick proved that to be true. He was a even-tempered, hard working, conscientious, and effective public servant. My prayers go to his family.”

Former Gov. Mike Beebe added, “I was saddened to learn of the passing of Richard Bell. He was a good man who understood the importance of agriculture not just for Arkansas’ future but also its importance to the nation and the world. He was a dedicated businessman and public servant and will be greatly missed.”

A native of Clinton, Ill., Bell earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in agricultural economics from the University of Illinois-Urbana. He joined the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service as an agricultural economist in 1959, spending three years in that role. He also worked as assistant agricultural attache in the American Embassy in Ottawa, Canada (1961-63), as well as Brussels, Belgium (1963-65). He was agricultural attache for the American Embassy in Dublin, Ireland from 1965-68.

Bell returned to USDA, and over the next nine years held progressively more significant positions, including three years as Assistant Secretary of Agriculture, International Affairs and Commodity Programs (1975-77).

He joined Riceland in 1977 as executive vice president and chief operating officer. He was elevated to president and CEO in 1981, and spent the next 23 years leading the Stuttgart-based organization.

Bell represented Arkansas agricultural interests on numerous boards and commissions, including the U.S. Rice Council, National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, the Chicago Board of Trade, National Grain and Feed Association and the Arkansas Industrial Development Commission.

Additionally, he was a member of the board of directors for GTE Southwest, Inc., the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, and First Commercial Corp.

Within Arkansas, Bell served as a member of the Arkansas State University board of trustees, on the Arkansas State Committee on Cooperatives, as a director of the Stuttgart Regional Medical Center, the Stuttgart Agricultural Museum, the UAMS Foundation, the Stuttgart Chamber of Commerce, Easter Seals-Arkansas, and the Grand Prairie Child Development Center.

He was named the 2002 Citizen of the Year by the Stuttgart Chamber of Commerce, inducted into the University of Arkansas Walton College of Business Hall of Fame in 2003, and was named the Scottish Rite Citizen of the Year in Arkansas in 2004.

Talk Business & Politics will update this story.