Bart van Eck - Jamae van Eck, CSB

Bart R. van Eck
Bart van Eck grew up as the fifth and beloved child of Agnes
Tillman of San Francisco and Baron Jan Carel van Panthaleon van
Eck who had been sent to the west coast of the United States from
his home in Holland by Royal Dutch Shell to establish this
company in America. Bart’s father was eventually transferred to
New York, to his company’s headquarters, and that’s where Bart
was born. The family home was in Greenwich, CT, even though
Bart attended Fancourt School in England as well as a school in
Switzerland while his father was on assignment in London.
Before the end of World War II, his parents had purchased a home in Montecito, CA for
retirement purposes. It was there that Bart experienced a remarkable healing of what US
Navy doctors had diagnosed as fatal spinal tuberculosis. This healing as well as many
others fostered Bart’s enduring love of Christian Science, a love which remained at the
core of his subsequent experiences.
He had graduated from Principia College in l947 and married Betty Jane Uhl while
completing a law degree at Stanford University. After a few years in the legal profession,
Bart joined Food Machinery Corporation in San Jose, CA ultimately becoming
Comptroller, and then Secretary/Treasurer of FMC Corporation when its headquarters
were moved to Chicago. During the California years, he served in a variety of
community roles, including President of the San Jose Area Board of Trustees of the
United Fund, President of the Santa Clara County Taxpayers’ Association, and then
President of the California Taxpayers’ Association, and on the President’s Council of San
Jose Sate College.
After his move to Chicago, he served as First Reader of 17th Church of Christ, Scientist
in Chicago, and in a number of other offices, including the Board of the Mid-America
Club, and the Board (and President) of Roosevelt University. He also belonged to the
Chicago Bank of Commerce, the Economic Club and the Illinois State Board of
Investment. Even after he was made a Vice-President of FMC and had responsibility for
its outstanding pension fund investment record, Bart continued to play a large role in his
church, and immediately after his retirement from business in 1986, entered the public
practice of Christian Science. His home and office were located in San Marino, CA.
Betty Jane, meantime, had struggled with a variety of mental disorders, and when she could
no longer be cared for at home, was placed in the mental wing of the Tenacre Foundation.
It was then, in a simple but remarkable way that Bart and Jamae met and were married in
l994. They shared a remarkable oneness of purpose and an abiding love for each other and
for the Cause of spiritual healing. For a number of years before her passing, Betty Jane
remained close to them and always in their prayers. Bart’s passing on June 30, 2007 was
sudden and unexpected. As with the Biblical Enoch, “…(he) walked with God: and he was
not; for God took him.”
Bart van Eck
Biography
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