Francis Bellotti

Biography and cause of death of Francis Bellotti

Francis Xavier Bellotti (May 3, 1923 – December 17, 2024) Francis Bellotti was an American lawyer and politician who served as both the 39th Attorney General and the 61st Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts.

Francis Bellotti Early life

Bellotti was born in Boston, Massachusetts. 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).

Francis Bellotti Political career

In his first campaign for public office, Bellotti was the Democratic nominee for district attorney of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, in 1958, but was defeated in the general election.

In 1964, he had 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.

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.

Francis Bellotti Later life and career

In 2012, the district courthouse in Quincy, Massachusetts, was named in his honor.

Bellotti was later the Vice Chairman of Arbella Insurance Group.

Bellotti turned 100 on May 3, 2023, and died on December 17, 2024, at the age of 101.

Source: Wikipedia