John W. Sell, emeritus Professor of Economics, and the inaugural holder of the Wilson Chair in Business Economics passed away peacefully on October 8, 2026. Professor Sell completed his PhD in Economics from UCLA in 1981. His thesis quantified the economic consequences of tie-in contracts with respect to the Supreme Court Decision Northern v United States (1958). Soon after completing his thesis, he joined The College of Wooster faculty in the Department of Economics.
In the early years of his career, Professor Sell worked alongside Professor Cook and other economics faculty to offer the business economics major. Sell was a curricular innovator in the truest sense of the liberal arts. His interest in German Studies and language led him to work with language faculty to design the International Business Economics minor the first of its kind the GLCA. His interest in connecting the study of economics to everyday business decisions led him to build the Business Economics Internship and reflection into the curriculum. He also had a long tenure as the advisor of the Jenny Investment Club, one of the oldest student run investment clubs in the United States. Sell designed and taught elective courses in Law and Economics and Strategic Management, courses that were not usually found in traditional economics programs. In addition to curriculum design and coursework, Sell advised over 100 senior theses during his 40+ year career.
The Economics Department used to be housed in Kauke Hall, but in the late 1990s and 2000, Sell had an important role to play in the design and conceptualization of Morgan Hall. In 2005, Sell worked with economics faculty and administrators to secure the initial Morgan Foundation grant to begin offering Social Entrepreneurship (SE). In that initial proposal and in subsequent years he led SE innovative student consulting program that paired student teams with area non-profits to design earned-revenue. This initiative sowed the seeds for the Center for Entrepreneurship at the College of Wooster in 2007.
Dr. Sell worked tirelessly to serve the College of Wooster and support its financial well-being by taking on advisory roles. He spent many years serving on the college’s Financial Advisory Committee, a faculty committee that advises the President on matters of the budget. His leadership was evident as he helped to re-frame the committee to become the Strategic Planning and Advisory Committee, which he led as Chair for many years. Sell always believed that long term decisions needed to be made with data and inclusive processes. Sell also served as the interim Vice President for Finance and was the Board’s officer for the college’s investments. Sell embodied the teacher-scholar model in his classes all the way into administration and back to teaching in his final years at Wooster.