A Good Age: Quincy court namesake Frank Bellotti 'keeps a tight schedule' at 100

QUINCY − When I heard that former state Attorney General Frank Bellotti will turn 100 on Wednesday, May 3, I was not surprised.

Nearly 20 years ago, when Bellotti was in his early 80s, he was still working out every day. I was in my early 60s and I asked him for some advice on strength training. Always gracious, he gave me a few sensible tips and urged moderation. His discipline was legendary.

"He has always believed you have to keep moving," his youngest son, Norfolk County Treasurer Michael Bellotti, 60, said last week. "He still gets up early, around 4:30 a.m., has black coffee, turns on the news and he works out. He has a bicycle that you pedal with your hands, and he'll do that for a while. He is meticulous and keeps a tight schedule."

As Frank Bellotti completes his first century, he remains sharp and has continued to go to work several days a week at the Arbella Insurance Group in Quincy, which he helped found in 1988. There is even a Frank Bellotti exercise room for the employees.

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After living in Wollaston for more than 50 years, he and his wife, Maggie, who raised 12 children together, moved to a ranch house in Hingham several years ago. Maggie, a devout Catholic and a force of her own, died this past December at age 98. They had been married for 73 years. Bellotti lives with his oldest daughter, Kathy.

"We make sure one of us is always with him," Michael Bellotti said.

Frank Bellotti continues to get together for dinner with two longtime friends at The Common Market every Thursday, as he has for 60 years.

Quincy Law Day to be dedicated to Frank Bellotti

On Wednesday morning, the life and legacy of Francis Xavier Bellotti will be honored at the annual Law Day event in Quincy District Court. A host of state dignitaries, including former Govs. Michael Dukakis and William Weld, are expected to be there, as will Secretary of State William Galvin and Attorney General Andrea Campbell. Quincy Law Day, which traditionally celebrates the contributions of local and state police departments, is being devoted to Bellotti this year.

Quincy District Court First Justice Mark Coven will be the master of ceremonies. Mayor Thomas Koch will present a proclamation that May 3 is Francis X. Bellotti Day in the city. Other speakers will include House Speaker Ron Mariano and Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey. Jeffrey Locke, chief justice of the state Trial Court, and Stacey Fortes, chief justice of the District Court, will participate. Gov. Maura Healey will be represented by her sister Tara Healey.

The 11 a.m. event will be livestreamed on Quincy Access Television.

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Bellotti has said he grew up poor in Roxbury, an only child raised by his mother. His father was a World War I veteran who had been gassed, was hospitalized and died when Bellotti was 14.

Bellotti graduated from Boston English High School in 1940 and served as a Navy officer in World War II, leading a 58-man squadron. With the help of the GI Bill, he graduated from Tufts University and Boston College Law School.

First elected to public office in 1962 as lieutenant governor of Massachusetts, he later served three terms as state attorney general from 1975-87. He ran for governor three times.

Bellotti has collected dozens of awards over his long career. In June 2021, swimmers in the annual Frogman Swim Competition in Boston Harbor honored him for his service on D-Day, June 6, 1944. News articles have described him as "the last standing World War II unit squad leader of the World War II-era Scouts and Raiders, a predecessor of what today is known as the Navy SEALS."

In 1981, the National Association of Attorneys General honored him as the most outstanding attorney general in the United States with the Louis C. Wyman award.

'The oldest veteran in the room'

Now, at 99, Bellotti can be quite certain he is "the oldest veteran in the room," subject to affectionate jokes about his age. At last November's dedication of Thomas Kiley Veterans Housing in Quincy, Mayor Tom Koch spoke at the Thomas Crane Public Library, which he noted was "built in 1882 ... when Frank Bellotti watched the construction. He was just a kid." (That would make Bellotti at least 141 years old.)

The veterans housing is named for Bellotti's longtime first assistant attorney general.

"I couldn't let this moment pass without telling you (Kiley) is probably the smartest man I have ever known," Bellotti said in his remarks.

"I've always believed that politicians look good or bad depending on the people that work with them. I may not be the brightest guy in the world, but I really know how to pick people."

Bellotti called for applause for "one of the great veterans of all time."

On Wednesday, there will be applause for another.

Those Bellotti Sunday family dinners

Over the years, The Patriot Ledger has run many stories about Frank Bellotti and his political and legal careers. There have also been stories about his family. Here is one of my favorites:

For Thanksgiving Day in 1999, staff reporter Lane Lambert wrote an award-winning article, "Sunday dinner with the Bellottis. Keeping faith with a vanishing tradition."

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Lane wrote: "Frank and Maggie Bellotti's Sunday dinners always begin this way. A dozen or more sons, daughters, in-laws, grandchildren seated comfortably in their chairs. Another dozen coming and going from the kitchen. ... The attorney general's own freshly prepared, sausage-laden tomato sauce will follow alongside goblets of his dark, homemade red wine."

When I emailed Lane, now retired and writing freelance, that Bellotti is turning 100, he too said, "I'm actually not surprised." He recalled that going to the Bellotti home in Wollaston for that Sunday dinner was one of his favorite stories of all that he wrote for the Ledger. He still remembers Frank Bellotti "at the head of the table, watching everything that was going on with those sharp eyes of his."

And of a later political profile, Lane said, "He was one of the most interesting, no-nonsense and gracious people I ever interviewed."

Over the weekend, Lane added, "I bought a bottle of an Italian Montepulciano for a toast for Frank on Wednesday."

Reach Sue Scheible at sscheible@patriotledger.com.

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This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Quincy's Frank Bellotti, former attorney general, honored for 100