He graduated from Wooster with a Bachelor of Arts degree and married Joyce Shaw.

He was also an assistant solicitor and special trial counsel for the City of Tallmadge, Ohio from 1963 to 1965.

In 1968 Bell was appointed by Ohio Governor Jim Rhodes to a vacancy on the Cuyahoga Falls Municipal Court.

He was then appointed to the Ohio Ninth District Court of Appeals and later was elected to that position, serving until 1982.

Bell was confirmed by the United States Senate on December 21, 1982, and received his commission the following day.