Francis Bellotti
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Francis Xavier Bellotti (May 3, 1923 – December 17, 2024) was an American lawyer and politician who served as both the 39th Attorney General and the 61st Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".
Early life
Bellotti was born in Boston, Massachusetts.[1][2] He graduated from Tufts University in 1947 and received his J.D. degree from Boston College in 1952. He served in the United States Navy during World War II reaching the rank of Lieutenant (junior grade).[3]
Political career
In his first campaign for public office in 1958, Bellotti was the Democratic nominee for district attorney of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, but was defeated in the general election.[4] In 1962 Bellotti was elected lieutenant governor and served a two-year term.
In 1964, he challenged the sitting governor of his own party, Endicott Peabody, and defeated Peabody in the Democratic primary. However, he went on to lose the general election to John A. Volpe, with Volpe regaining the seat that he had lost two years earlier. In 1966, Bellotti was the Democratic nominee for Massachusetts Attorney General, but was defeated by Republican Elliot Richardson.[5]
In 1974 he was elected to the attorney-generalship for what was now a four-year term and was reelected twice (serving until 1987).[6]
In his official capacity for the state, he was the named party in the commercial speech case: First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti, 435 U.S. 765 (1978), which established that corporations have some free speech rights under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.[7]
Later life, career, and legacy
In 2012, the district courthouse in Quincy, Massachusetts, was named in his honor.[8]
Bellotti was later the Vice Chairman of Arbella Insurance Group.[9]
Bellotti turned 100 on May 3, 2023, and died at his home in Hingham, Massachusetts December 17, 2024, at the age of 101.[10][11][12][13]
Reflecting on Bellotti's legacy following his death, the current Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell wrote in The Boston Globe that: "His forward thinking and innovation positioned the attorney general’s office as a guardian of the rule of law and social justice. He wielded the law to protect fundamental rights and uphold public trust. He put fairness above all else."[14]
Gallery
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References
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- ↑ Man in the News; Massachusetts Victor; Francis Xavier Bellotti (New York Times, September 12, 1964)
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- ↑ Francis Bellotti Obituary
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External links
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- Mintz, Levin biography
- Martindale-Hubbell Legal Directory profile
- Getty Images
- Pages with script errors
- 1923 births
- 2024 deaths
- 20th-century Massachusetts politicians
- Boston College Law School alumni
- Tufts University alumni
- American men centenarians
- Lieutenant governors of Massachusetts
- Massachusetts attorneys general
- Massachusetts Democrats
- Massachusetts lawyers
- Mintz Levin people
- United States Navy officers
- United States Navy personnel of World War II