Winthrop Pickard Bell: Ralph Pickard Bell

Winthrop Bell's younger brother was Ralph Pickard Bell. He was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on March 28, 1886. He undertook his early education in Halifax and obtained a Bachelor of Arts Degree at the University of Mount Allison College in Sackville, New Brunswick, in 1907. Later that same year on May 22 he married his college sweetheart, Annie Marguerite Deinstadt, of Saint John, New Brunswick. The couple subsequently moved to the Canadian West where Ralph Bell worked for the Fairbanks Company.

The Bells had two daughters: Dorothy (born February 20, 1908, in Winnipeg) and Helen (born January 19, 1909, in Calgary) before returning to Halifax in 1910. Bell returned to assist his father with the family business, A.M. Bell & Company, Limited. In 1913 he withdrew from the active administration of the company and became involved in public affairs as a member of the Nova Scotia Good Roads Association. He also carried out some land speculation through the development of Rosebank Park in Halifax. These activities continued until the Halifax Explosion on December 6, 1917, when he took on the responsibility of Secretary of the Halifax Relief Commission.

Thereafter, Ralph Bell became heavily involved with the timber trade and the Canadian Pulpwood Association. In 1921, he and his wife welcomed their third child, Nancy (born April 11, 1921, in Halifax).

During the 1920s he also became interested in the fishing industry and bought an interest in the Lockeport Company on the South Shore of Nova Scotia. His involvement in both timber and the fisheries continued until the outbreak of the Second World War when he was appointed by Ottawa to assist the federal minister of the Department of Munitions and Supplies, C.D. Howe. Ralph Bell became the Director-General for Aircraft Production in Canada, holding the post between 1940 and 1944.

His wife Marguerite died on March 17, 1943. Later that same year he was awarded the Order of the British Empire (O.B.E.) for his war service. During 1944 he was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Civil Law (D.C.L.) by Mount Allison University at the May Convocation.  On June 11 that same year he married Marjorie Young Smith of Shediac Cape, New Brunswick, in Amherst, Nova Scotia.

Following the Second World War Ralph Bell successfully oversaw the merger of two holding companies: Smith Fisheries Ltd. and Associated Investors Ltd., which in turn represented twenty-four smaller fish processing businesses. Between 1945 and 1953 Bell served as the first President of this new company which became known as National Sea Products Limited. Thereafter, he acted as President of Halifax Insurance Company from 1954-1959. This very successful entrepreneur was also a principal of the Pickard Investment Company of Halifax and served as a Vice-President of the Bank of Nova Scotia.