We were deeply saddened to hear of the passing of George Bell on Wednesday 24 June 2026, aged 79.
Originally from Edinburgh, George spent a lot of his working life in Northampton where he was known to many as the Managing Director of Techno-Vision Systems. He distributed many braille products including the Eureka; Cosmo; braille embossers from Index Braille, Enabling Technologies and Thiel; Canute; music products from Dancing Dots; and perhaps most significantly of all, the Duxbury Braille Translator, for which he also wrote most of the documentation.
George was made an honorary member of the British Computer Association of the Blind (BCAB), now the Technology Association of Visually Impaired People (TAVIP), in the early 2000s and was a regular supporter of the Braillists Foundation since its establishment in 2014. He also served for a time on the Braille Production and Technology Group of the UK Association for Accessible Formats (UKAAF), contributed to many discussions through the International Council on English Braille (ICEB), and facilitated access to braille in many developing countries.
Aside from braille, he was instrumental in establishing the Sight Village exhibition in Birmingham, which is now organised by Queen Alexandra College.
Jackie Brown is collecting tributes to George to be shared with his family and the blind community. If you would like to send a tribute, please email [email protected]