U.S.: Claiborne Pell, 1918-2009: He granted your Pell.
- Who was he? Pell, who died today at age 90, was a longtime Rhode Island senator. First elected in 1960, the six-term senator had suffered from Parkinson’s Disease since 1994.
- His greatest act Pell, soft-spoken and friendly, was best-known for sponsoring the 1972 Pell Grant program, which has helped 54 million low-income people attend college.
- Quirky & popularThe Democrat, well-known on Capitol Hill, was known for being a little eccentric, jogging in tweed coats, and occasionally absent-minded. Sounds like our kind of guy. source