Claiborne deBorda Pell hailed from a life of wealth and privilege in Newport’s high society. But the quirky multimillionaire who served Rhode Island for six terms in the U.S. Senate still had a deep connection with the voters of the Blackstone Valley.

A 1983 Evening Times article called the Democrat “an anomaly – an aristocrat, raised rich in Newport, who remains one of the most popular politicians in this blue collar state.”

Often described as gentlemanly, kind and decent, Pell is best remembered for the namesake grants that have helped millions of Americans finance a college education, his advocacy for the arts, and his foreign policy expertise.

But from the very start of his political career, Pell saw the importance of connecting with his constituents. The senator had a fondness for simply walking around to see challenges facing the state’s cities and towns firsthand. He would stop by to discuss the issues of the day with newspaper editorial boards. He also spoke directly to local radio listeners as a guest panelist WWON-AM’s Coffee ‘An program.

Pell’s many visits to the Valley as a candidate and a senator – at parades, in schools, at senior housing and playground dedications – were well documented in articles and photos during his 36-year tenure in the U.S. Senate.

Born in 1918, Pell descended from a family of politicians. His father, Herbert Claiborne Pell, once served as a representative from New York. After graduating from Princeton in 1940, Pell began his career in the Coast Guard. He served during World War II and retired in 1978 as a captain.

In 1960, he began his bid for the U.S. Senate. “A new star flashed into the Rhode Island political sky as Claiborne Pell scored an overwhelming triumph in yesterday's Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate nomination,” trumpeted the front page of The Pawtucket Times on Sept. 29, 1960.

Pell, who was brand new to the political scene, had just defeated veteran politicians Dennis J. Roberts and J. Howard McGrath, by large margins.

During the 1960 campaign, candidate Pell embarked on an extensive 18 hour tour of all 39 cities and towns throughout Rhode Island.

As part of the bandwagon campaign, Pell stopped, shook hands and spoke with voters on Main Street in Manville, at Cumberland Town Hall, the glass plant in Central Falls, Pawtucket's Main Street and East Providence City Hall.

“Eighteen years ago in my first campaign, I started walking all around the state, meeting people and seeing things,” Pell said during a 1978 interview with The Call. “I think you can see more on your feet than you can in any other way.”

Throughout his long political career, Pell would continue to walk along Main Streets and hold open forums to discuss current issues from Social Security to the end of the Vietnam War, a war that Pell vigorously opposed.

Hundreds of people would turn out at forums to hear Pell speak and voice their own concerns.

In 1972, a crowd of more than 800 people gathered at the Pawtucket Armory to support Pell in his bid for re-election. Senator Edward M. Kennedy, who eulogized Pell at his funeral Monday, spoke at the event in support of Pell.

“Hundreds of thousands of young people are getting an education … who wouldn't be except for the work of Claiborne Pell and the work he's done for the country,” said Kennedy in 1972.

Pell wrote the legislation that created the Basic Educational Opportunity Grants that Congress named “Pell grants” in 1980. At the time of Pell's retirement from the Senate, more than 54 million low- and middle-income Americans had benefited from Pell grants.

“He was a pioneer in working for lower-income people to have a real place in the community,” said former Sen. Rhoda E. Perry, a Democrat

representing Providence and Pawtucket, in 1995.

Pell was also the state sponsor of the National Sea Grant College Act of 1966, which provides essential federal assistance to the University of Rhode Island School of Oceanography and other oceanography programs throughout the country.

He was a longtime advocate of efforts to reduce the proliferation of nuclear weapons and authorship of a treaty prohibiting the use of seabed as a base for weapons of mass destruction. He also supported the development of mass transit systems and served as a delegate to the first world environmental conference in Stockholm in 1972.

In 1965, Pell was the principal Senate sponsor of a law that established the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

In his later years in the Senate, Pell and Sen. John Chafee – a one-time political opponent – were among a group of legislators who worked together as champions of the Valley’s economic and environmental revitalization efforts. Pell was a co-sponsor of the 1986 legislation authorizing the Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor. 

“It is time for Save the Bay to push north along the Blackstone to work harder with residents and industries to curb pollution,” said Pell in 1991. “Working with members of the Congressional delegations from Rhode

Island and Massachusetts, I have helped pull together a network of activists dedicated to revitalizing the Blackstone Valley and restoring the Blackstone River.”

When he announced his retirement, many local officials hailed Pell as the epitome of what a senator should be.

In September 1995, Pell announced that he would not seek a seventh term in the Senate. Not long after the announcement of his retirement, local officials said the senator would be greatly missed. He would spend the last dozen years suffering from Parkinson’s Disease, but was still spotted with his wife, Nuala, attending various functions and lending his support to issues that he cared about.

Former Woonsocket Mayor Francis L. Lanctot called Pell, “a perfect gentleman, the epitome of what a United State senator should be, looking out for our country and for our state.”

“A finer gentleman will never be found in government life, and a caring person, too,” Lanctot said in 1995.

Former Woonsocket Mayor John Cummings, who served as an aide to Pell for 21 years after leaving City Hall, also spoke highly of Pell.

“He epitomizes all that is good about government,” he said in 1995.

Pell died on Jan. 1 at his Newport home after a long battle with Parkinson's disease. He was 90 years old.

Cummings served as an honorary pallbearer at his funeral on Monday.