BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. -- J. Raymond Bell, appointed by three presidents to head the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission and communications director for President Reagan's 1980 campaign, died Tuesday of cancer. He was 75.
Bell, who died at his Beverly Hills home, will be eulogized at a memorial service there Friday morning.
A native of New Orleans, Bell was appointed to the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission by Presidents Nixon, Ford and Reagan. He was director of political communications for the 1980 Reagan-Bush campaign.
Bell was affiliated with the Washington law office of Wyman, Bautzer, Rothman and Kuchel prior to his appointment to the federal commission, and for many years he was a vice president of Columbia Pictures Industries.
Before joining Columbia, Bell was a vice president of public relations of Capital Airlines.
A former newspaperman, Bell served on the editorial staff of the Georgian-American and the Detroit Times. He was president of both the New York and the Washington chapters of the Public Relations Society of America and was a national vice president of that professional group, serving as general chairman of its annual convention.
Bell is survived by his wife, Jeanne Viner Bell.
