Claiborne Pell

Claiborne de Borda Pell (November 22, 1918 – January 1, 2009) was a U.S. Senator from Rhode Island, serving six terms from 1961 to 1997, and was the sponsor of the Pell Grant, which provides financial aid funding to American college students. A member of the Democratic Party, he was Rhode Island's longest serving senator.

Early years

Claiborne Pell was born on November 22, 1918 in New York City, the son of Matilda Bigelow and diplomat and congressman Herbert Pell. He attended St. George's School in Newport, Rhode Island and received an A.B. in history from Princeton University in 1940. While at Princeton, he was a member of Colonial Club and the American Whig-Cliosophic Society, and played on the rugby team.

After graduating, Pell worked as an oil field roustabout in Oklahoma. He then served as private secretary for his father, who was United States Ambassador to Portugal. At the start of World War II he was with his father, who was then United States Ambassador to Hungary. Claiborne Pell drove trucks carrying emergency supplies to prisoners of war in Germany, and was detained several times by the Nazi government.