A foundational Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) employee, Bell's ingenuity was instrumental in creating several pioneering minicomputer systems.

He designed several PDP machines and later became Vice President of Engineering, overseeing the development of the VAX computer systems.  He was the architect of the PDP-4 and PDP-6, and made other architectural contributions to the PDP-5 and PDP-11 Unibus and General Registers architecture.

After DEC, Bell co-founded Encore Computer, one of the first shared memory, multiple-microprocessor computers to use the snooping cache structure.

His vision extended beyond technology to its historical significance, leading him to co-found the first major computer museum in Boston in 1979.

This institution would evolve into the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, a testament to his and his wife Gwen Bell's dedication to chronicling the evolution of computing.

Bell's legacy is further immortalised in the ACM's Gordon Bell Prize, an accolade encouraging breakthroughs in parallel processing, reflecting his passion for advancing the field.

His mentorship at Microsoft in 1995 marked a period of exploration into telepresence technologies and the ambitious MyLifeBits life-logging project, an endeavour to fulfil Vannevar Bush's concept of a comprehensive personal archive.

Former Windows VP Steven Sinofsky remembers Bell as an invaluable advisor and leader within Microsoft Research, whose wisdom and encouragement nurtured numerous researchers, projects, and product teams.

He said Bell's contributions to Microsoft and the broader technological landscape were profound, leaving an indelible mark that will resonate for generations to come.

"His memory is a blessing to so many," added Sinofsky in a post memorialising Bell. "His impact on all of us in technology will be felt for generations. May he rest in peace."