Natale H. Bellocchi

Natale Hans Bellocchi was born into an ethnic Italian family in 1926 in Little Falls, New York; his parents were Pietro and Marianna (Fenni) Bellocchi. He had an older sister Elsie Bellochhi. After their father died during the Great Depression when Natale was 12, the family had strict finances, but were helped by relatives and friends in the Italian community. Bellocchi attended the public high school. Disappointed at being rejected in 1944 for the draft, he went away to college. He earned his bachelor's degree in industrial management from Georgia Institute of Technology in 1948. ==Career==

Bellochi started his career as an industrial engineer for Burlington Mills in Allentown, Pennsylvania, thinking he might have an opportunity to go into international business. It was interrupted by the Korean War, and this time he was accepted in the draft. He served in the United States Army from 1950 to 1953, going to Officer Candidate School after basic training, and being assigned to the Second Infantry Division, 23rd Infantry, Company A. His experiences changed his goals and, after the war, Bellocchi returned to graduate school on the GI Bill to prepare for an international career. In 1954, he received his master's degree from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service of Georgetown University. In 1985, Bellocchi was appointed ambassador to Botswana, serving until 1988. From 1990 to 1995, Bellocchi was chairman of the American Institute in Taiwan. Bellochi and his family returned to the United States when he retired. He died in Bethesda, Maryland, of heart disease on November 17, 2014. A funeral was held in December 2015, at Arlington National Cemetery. ==Marriage and family==

Bellochi married Lilan Liu. They had two children together. ==References==