May 2013
| Business World Magazine | 113
tractor. As J.P. Bell grew his business, he and
his wife were also busy growing their family.
They raised seven sons, as well as a daughter,
and this progeny all grew-up assisting in the
family business, or working in other trades.
The sons matured and sought out their own
respective career paths, but in 1967, they ul-
timately determined that it made little sense
for them to labor for others when they could
establish their own company. Ruether says
this was a dynamic era for the city of Roches-
ter, with Kodak, Xerox and Bausch & Lomb
contributing to an economic boom of devel-
opment. The Bell Brothers determined to
galvanize all their varied service expertise to
create a company that could deliver a range
of solutions under one roof. Each brother es-
sentially became an expert in their respect-
ful field, be it hospital, central utility plant
construction, power or some other corridor
of industry. Ruether says the deploying of di-
verse expertise was a crucial strategy, but the
company further benefited from their in-
credible work ethic. “Work hard. Play hard.
And treat people fair,” says Ruether. “Those
of us who have been here for twenty-five to
thirty years all followed.”
Over time, The Bell Company advanced
from mechanical and plumbing to general
construction projects. While much of the
early work was solely performed in Roches-
ter, in time, the company began to venture
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