Charles L. Sell

Mr. Charles L. Sell, of Marshfield, died at home on Sunday, August 20, 2017. He was 97.

He was born in Manhattan, New York City on June 4, 1920 a son of the late Charles S. and Helen (McCormick) Sell. A move to Old Orchard Beach, Maine, Detroit and a return to New York City all occurred before his first birthday. In 1922 his family moved to White Plains, New York where he excelled in his school and was able to skip two full grades. In 1938 he was awarded an academic diploma from the George Washington High School in New York City and in 1939 received a commercial diploma. He attended New York University for three semesters in the early 1940's before enlisting in the United States Army. He was assigned to Rutgers University for eight months where he majored in electronics. His basic training was in Camp Swift, Texas and in the Brooke General Hospital in San Antonio, Texas where he was assigned to the Eighth Service Command School as an English teacher for Hispanic and Chinese recruits. To make the most of his background and skills he was transferred to the New York Point of Embarkation where he handled the paperwork for up to 18 trainloads of troops each day.

Charles later graduated from the Graduate College of Advanced Traffic Management in 1954 with a degree in transportation law. He actively practiced law before the Interstate Commerce Commission and State Public Service Commissions in which he won 86 of 88 cases, one worth millions of dollars.

Employed in the traffic department of Western Electric Co in the early 1940's he later joined the Ruberoid Corp. in 1948 as a traffic specialist and was appointed General Traffic Manager in 1957. This position made him responsible for moving 50,000 carloads and 110,000 truckloads annually from and to 53 manufacturing plants and mine locations. The added title of Purchasing came in 1965. With a desired change from the pace of New York City, he accepted a position in 1968 to join the Cabot Corporation in Boston as Director of Traffic and Distribution and President of Cabot, NV based in Rotterdam, Netherlands. In 1977 he accepted a position with United Brands in New York City, where he was briefly Director of Distribution before being named President of Roberts and Oakes, Sioux Falls, SD, a trucking subsidiary which was in financial trouble. Eight months later the company was showing a profit and he moved back to New York City as President of Maritrop Corp., an international trading company, and as Vice President of United Brands. As VP his travel was extensive and he logged over three million air miles in his various capacities.

Among Charles' achievements was the Gold Medal at the Liepzig Fair in East Germany in 1983 for innovative design of a freight car. His named appeared twice in lead articles in the Wall Street Journal and he made many trips behind the 'Iron Curtain' to trade shiploads of bananas in exchange for products United Brands Co. could use. Other notable memories were sleeping with a tank in front of his door in Davao, Philippines and playing the piano in an orchestra and on Bourbon Street in New Orleans. He cutoff Yasser Arafat's source of arms during the period the PLO was hijacking planes to remote airfields in the Middle East. He kissed the Blarney Stone, visited the Casbah, went white water rafting, and dined with notables including Presidents Nixon and Reagan, the head of Poland's KGB in Warsaw and an Inca Chief in Panama. He led a full life.

On October 7, 1972 he married Margaret A. (Bennett) Mandile and they lived many years in Weston before moving to Cape Cod and later Kingston for over 13 years and lastly Marshfield where he had been residing since 2010.

In addition to his wife, Margaret 'Peggy' Sell who died November 8, 2015 he is predeceased by his daughter, Barbara Bewley and sister, Dorothy Zweig.

He leaves his children, Nancy D. Bologna and her husband, Robert of Honolulu, Hawaii and Marilyn Washington of Manchester, New Hampshire, Vincent C. Mandile and his wife, Emily of Ellicott City, Maryland and Joseph T. Mandile and his wife, Lynne, of Middleborough,; his grandchildren, James Bologna (Susan), Cynthia Bologna, Jennifer Zimmerman (George), Peter D. Bewley (Amy) and Jason Washington, Anthony J. , Francis A. and Dominic J. Mandile,; many great-grandchildren and nieces & nephews.

Family and friends will honor and remember Charles' life by gathering to visit at the Joyce Funeral Home, 245 Main Street, (Rt. 20), Waltham on Saturday, August 26th at 10 a.m followed by his funeral service at 11 a.m. Burial will follow in Calvary Cemetery, Waltham.