Founder of Taco Bell restaurants dead at 86

[Robb]

Source: AZCentral.com

LOS ANGELES — Glen W. Bell, Jr., the innovator and entrepreneur who tapped an unsated hunger for Mexican fare as Americans discovered fast food, creating Taco Tia, El Taco and in 1962 his signature Taco Bell, has died. He was 86.

Bell, who had Parkinson's disease since 1985, died Sunday at his home in Rancho Santa Fe, north of San Diego, the company announced. No cause of death was given.

(snip)

...Closer to his Rancho Santa Fe home, Bell bought property near the bucolic town of Valley Center and in 1963 created Bell Gardens, a model produce farm, complete with sales of fresh pumpkins and items from the other 63 crops to the public.

The development welcomed thousands of schoolchildren each year on class trips, providing demonstrations in conservation and how various crops are grown, and offering train rides. Bell's 75th birthday was celebrated there with a huge fiesta reminiscent of those he staged to open Taco Bell restaurants.

Bell put his own money into the farm for many years, but in 2002 turned it over to a nonprofit corporation, which was unable to attract financial support. Bell Gardens closed in 2003...

Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/2010/01/18/20100118taco-bell-founder-dies18-ON.html

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Surprisingly interesting life. RIP Glen, I've lived cheaply on your food and been happy enough about it.

[onehandle]

1. 'Bean Burrito, Fresco Style.' Taco Bell is our healthy road food of choice.

My iPhone is always looking for the next exit with a Taco Bell.

[Robb]

3. He apparently was a Republican

...although it looks like he didn't dabble much in politics, $$-wise.

If what we ate for those special nine months are any indication, my daughter is mostly made up of Taco Bell food. :D

[brooklynite]

5. 1290 mg of sodium (per burrito)?

mmmmm.....

[virgogal]

2. Never been to a Taco Bell in my life.

[cherokeeprogressive]

26. And I've probably been to 'em all. So what.

[Warpy]

4. Wow, I never knew that about the model farm

RIP, Mr. Bell.

Mystery meat tacos are about the only fast food I can still summon a craving for.

[CTyankee]

16. Glad to hear YOU say it! I was having dark thoughts about my Taco Bell crisp taco

obsession! I try to justify it by putting guacamole, lettuce and tomato on them but oh, I love them so! Just every once in a while, of course...I try to keep it at about once or twice a month...I don't even tell my husband, I just sneak out for a lunchtime shopping trip and the stores just happen to be near a Taco Bell, who woulda thunk it?

[El Supremo]

6. He had Parkinson's for 25 years????

How horrible. I'd want to be shot.

[Ian David]

7. Will he be buried in a hard coffin or a soft coffin? n/t

[El Supremo]

8. Why don't you think outside the casket? n/m

[trotsky]

9. !!

:spray:

[El Supremo]

10. Why don't you think outside the casket? n/m

[Ian David]

12. Oh, thanks! Maybe a bowl... all mixed-in with a bunch of other dead people. n/t

[d_b]

17. double decker

[Taverner]

11. Of course when Taco Bell first opened, Mexcian-Americans were not allowed to work there

Irony

[Rebubula]

13. Citation, please

I am trying to find this factoid and am having no luck.

[Taverner]

15. Trying to find one, but no luck here either

Funny - I remember that in a Time or Newsweek magazine from the late 90's..

[jmowreader]

27. You can certainly understand why...

What's the Spanish translation of "what the hell is this shit?"

[dipsydoodle]

14. Food ?

I thought that was the Mexican Telephone Company.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

18. Well, dying at 86 we know he didn't eat at Taco Bell

[salguine]

19. I had a friend in college who lived very close to the Mexican border...she told me that

when Mexican families would visit the town on a fun family day trip to the United States, they would go to Taco Bell to try "American food", because it apparently bore no resemblance to actual Mexican food...

[TheMightyFavog]

20. Will there be a 21-fart salute at his funeral?

[SemiCharmedQuark]

21. Taco Bell is to Mexican food as Pizza Hut is to Italian food.

Not that there isn't a place for it but that place isn't in the "Mexican" category.

[SomeGuyInEagan]

23. Actually, around here, many of both have the same ownership group

Back in the '80s, a friend of mine shot some training videos for a meat processor in Kansas. After he told me about what is sold to Pizza Hut and Taco Bell as "beef" I made it a point to avoid "beef" at either (like the bean burritos, though).

[badgerpup]

22. I still miss their chili-cheese burritos...

Best bang-fer-yer-buck on the menu, IMHO.

Wonder why they stopped making them.
Haven't found anything else on the menu I like as well, either...althought the Baja Chalupas aren't bad. :shrug:

[begin_within]

24. I like their beans

I've eaten Taco Bell beans occasionally for decades. They use vegetable oil instead of lard and that gives them bonus points in my book. I live in San Diego, where there is a taco shop on every block and a full-blown Mexican restaurant in every neighborhood. In almost all these authentic, Mom-and-Pop restaurants, the beans are a disaster. You order beans and you get a puddle of lard with some beans floating in it. I give credit to Taco Bell for preparing beans without lard and for seasoning them well. Yes, it's fast food and can't compare to authentic Mexican food, but they did one thing right.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

25. Wow, I didn't know chihuauas could live that long.

:silly: