Phillip A. Bello

Dr. Phillip A. Bello, of Dedham, formerly of Needham, an electrical engineer for more than 50 years who was recognized internationally for his scientific accomplishments, died Saturday of complications from Parkinson's disease at the age of 86.

Born in Lynn, Dr. Bello attended schools in the Boston area, becoming a member of the Junior Commandos at the age of 13, a group of youngsters across the country who collected scrap metal for ammunition during World War II. He and two other boys were pictured in a photo on the front page of the Boston Herald in 1942, collecting scrap in Somerville for the war effort. Dr. Bello attended Boston Latin School, graduating with honors in the Class of 1948. Dr. Bello graduated from Northeastern University, receiving a B.S. degree in electrical engineering in 1953, making the dean's list every semester. He listed his hobby as math and his outstanding characteristic as “likes to learn things on his own”. He was awarded one of 31 nation-wide General Electric Co. scholarships as a college senior for his U.S. Air Force electronic research. He received his Master of Science and Sc.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1955 and 1959 respectively.

After graduating, Dr. Bello worked for several engineering firms involved in communications research for the Department of Defense. While vice president of Signatron, Inc. of Lexington, in 1970, Dr. Bello was elected a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. He was recognized internationally for contributions to statistical communication theory, specifically the modeling of randomly time varying communication channels. One of his 60 papers appeared in an IEEE publication termed "The Best of the Best," along with the papers of other giants of 20th century electrical engineering. He started his own company, CNR, in 1972 and also ran a firm, Milcom, which specialized in consulting work for various government agencies, including the National Security Agency. From 1994-2001, he was a wireless communications consultant and carried out direct contract work for the Department of Defense. Dr. Bello was employed by MITRE Corp. in Bedford from 1987-1994 and 2001-2008, retiring at the age of 78.His most recent work included wireless generation of encryption ciphers and linear distortion specifications for GPS.

He is survived by his wife of 63 years, Edna of Dedham; his son, Martin of Brookline and his wife, Judith; his son, Michael of Needham and his wife, Jennifer; three grandchildren, Molly, Angela and Jacob. Dr. Bello is also survived by his brothers, Robert of Brookline and Herbert of Florida, and several nieces and nephews.

A funeral service will be held SUNDAY, March 6th at 2pm at Stanetsky Memorial Chapels, 475 Washington Street, CANTON. Interment will be private.

Memorial Observance will be held on Sunday following services at NewBridge on the Charles, Dedham in the Copper Beech Room from 3:30pm-5:30pm.

Contributions in memory of Dr. Bello may be made to the American Parkinson Disease Association, 72 E. Concord Street, Boston, MA 02118.