Edward Harold Bellatti

Edward Harold Bellatti passed away Friday, April 26, 2024, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. 

Edd Bellatti was born on December 29, 1942, in Stillwater, Oklahoma to R. Marsden Bellatti II and Kathyrn (Davenport) Bellatti.  

He grew up in Stillwater and was a 1961 graduate of C. E. Donart High School where he was an All-State football player. He attended Oklahoma State University before moving to Tulsa to sell advertising for the Tulsa World. He then moved to Nowata to work with his father at the Nowata Daily Star selling advertising and overseeing production of the newspaper. In the late 1970s Edd took the reins of Nowata Publishing Company which allowed his entrepreneurial spirit to shine. The 1980s saw expansion through the acquisition of advertising publications such as Shop N Swap Advertiser, Show & Tell Times, the Big Nickel Shopper and others. Bellmar Color Press was founded in Nowata, Oklahoma employing up to 100 people to produce newspaper circulars for regional and national retailers. The 1990s brought the birth of First Down Publications which grew to have a publication for every Big 12 school including the O-State Sports Report and Sooners Illustrated. Edd sold his businesses and retired in 1998. 

He married Melyn Caldwell on February 14, 1999, in Maui, HI.  

Edd enjoyed golf, quail hunting, OSU athletics, fishing, and working. He served as President of Hillcrest Country Club in 1997 and served on the Jane Phillips Hospital Board. He was a 32nd degree Mason. A member of First Baptist Church Bartlesville, Edd volunteered at the First Baptist Family Life Center and participated in the Friday Morning Men’s Bible study.  He was known for being competitive and passionate and for his generosity and hospitality.

Edd is survived by his wife Melyn, his three children: Chuck and his wife Melinda Bellatti, Tom and his wife Doryss Bellatti, Julie and her husband Allan Goodwin, and their mother, Becky Bellatti; grandchildren Lauren Bellatti, Nathan Bellatti, Nick Bellatti, Abbi Edwards, Glenn Goodwin, Collin Goodwin, Chase Crenshaw, Cooper Crenshaw, Cassidy Crenshaw, Chloe Crenshaw, and Cayla Crenshaw; four great-grandchildren, several nieces, nephews, and cousins, and his brother Robert M. Bellatti III.