BELL,WALTER,ANDREW (1889-1969) CANADIAN CARBONIFEROUS STRATIGRAPHER, PALEOBOTANIST AND PALEONTOLOGIST PAR EXCELLENCE

Waiter Andrew Bell (1889-1969) was a gentle, modest man of few words, born to Scottish Presbyterian parents in St. Thomas, Ontario. After gr aduating from Queen's and Yale universities, he began his full-time ca reer with the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC) in 1920, progressing t hrough the ranks from Assistant Palaeobotanist to Director. Bell was D irector from 1950 to 1953, pivotal years in the emergence of the moder n GSC, when he encouraged and strengthened paleontological and stratig raphic studies. Over his exceptionally long career Waiter Bell authore d or co-authored 70 publications, mostly concerning Carboniferous stra tigraphy, paleobotany and paleontology of Atlantic Canada. He also con tributed significantly to central and western Canadian Mesozoic and Ce nozoic paleobotany.