Born in Burma, where his father was drilling for oil, William Bell came to the United States when he was five years old and the family ultimately settled in Tulsa. A graduate of Duke University and Texas A&M University, he received a law degree from the University of Tulsa in 1954 and became the senior partner in the law firm of Rogers and Bell. He served as president of the Tulsa County and Oklahoma Bar associations and was chairman of the Tulsa County Welfare Unit and served on the Southwestern Legal Foundation’s research and executive committees. Bell was a fellow in the Oklahoma and American Bar associations and served as a trustee of the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, Trinity University of Texas and John Brown University in Arkansas. He served as the president of the Oklahoma Heritage Association (now the Oklahoma Hall of Fame) and received a faculty alumni award from the Tulsa University College of Law in 1977. He served on the Oklahoma State Highway Commission (1969-1973) and was named Man of the Year for the Downtown Tulsa organization.