In Appreciation
English High Alumni Salute Frank Bellotti ’42
There aren’t many people around today who were born when The English High School of Boston was celebrating its 100th anniversary. Francis X. Bellotti is one of them.
Frank Bellotti ’42 receives applause at the EHS 200th Anniversary Gala in October, 2022
Francis X. Bellotti, who turned 100 on May 3, 2023, joined the other 350 attendees in the Fall of 2022 when English High School celebrated its milestone 200th Anniversary Gala at the Boston Marriott Hotel.
On his birthday, both the Boston Globe and Boston Herald published stories about this Massachusetts icon who was elected Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General, and due to his reputation as a leader for civil rights, he served as President of the National Association of Attorneys General.
Frank, English High Class of 1942, was born in Roxbury and raised in Dorchester. A small kid, the son of Italian immigrants, he often had to fight off bullies. That may have prepared him for his service during World War II as an intelligence officer in the elite Navy Scouts & Raiders that became the SEALs.
At his 100th Birthday Celebration Frank Bellotti is flanked by former Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis and his wife Kitty Dukakis.
After the war, Frank graduated from Tufts University in 1947 and received his J.D. degree from Boston College in 1952. When not serving in government, Frank practiced law in Boston for several decades. He mentored many lawyers and was ahead of the curve on civil rights, environmental enforcement, and consumer protection.
Frank married Maggie, a gifted pianist, wonderful partner and excellent mother to their 12 children. She died last December, the day after Christmas, at 98. They had been married for 73 years!
In 2012, the district courthouse in Quincy was named in his honor. Among notable participants at the birthday festivities, along with former Gov. Michael and Kitty Dukakis, were Mass. Treasurer Deborah Goldberg, former Gov. William Weld, and former Boston Mayor and U. S. Vatican Ambassador Ray Flynn. In a nod to his lifelong commitment to exercise, the building even has a Frank Bellotti exercise room for employees.
Retired? Nope. Frank still has an office at Arbella Insurance Group which he helped to found and where he is currently Vice Chairman.
