Nancy Belli

Nancy Ho Belli

Longtime resident of San Francisco, Nancy Ho Belli, widow of famed attorney Melvin Belli, passed away peacefully on December 20, 2014, at the age of 79. She was not only a loving and caring sister, wife, and mother, but also a woman of dreams, ambition, and drive that constantly drove her to reinvent herself throughout her professional career.
Nancy was born on the island nation of Singapore when it was still a British settlement and lived through the Japanese occupation during World War II. She was the eldest child in a family with 5 brothers. She moved to Hong Kong to attend the Chinese University of Hong Kong, where she earned a BA in Religious Education and Social Work. In high school she was top of her class, and was a champion high jumper and captain of both the track and basketball teams. She spoke five dialects of Chinese. During her college years she began her professional training working as a social worker in hospitals and a youth center, helping patients and families with counseling, rehabilitation, discharge planning, and financial relief.
In Hong Kong she met Robert Ho, while he was also attending college. After college, they both moved to Montreal, Canada, to attend McGill University, where she received her Masters in Social Work. Nancy and Robert wed, and she continued to work as a social worker, both at a local youth center and children's services center. The birth of their first child, William, was followed by that of their daughter, Rebecca, the following year. The family relocated to Gainesville, Florida, where Robert pursued a PhD in civil engineering at the University of Florida.
As a young stay-at-home mother, Nancy began to explore her creative side, becoming a self-trained artist who went on to win local awards for her sketches, collages, and abstract paintings. Once the children were in school, Nancy went back to social work, eventually teaching psychiatric counseling and working as a social worker in the Children's Division of the Department of Psychiatry at Shands Teaching Hospital of the University of Florida.
In the late 1970's, Nancy and Robert separated and later divorced. At this major turning point in her life, Nancy decided to change careers and attended the University of Florida College of Law, where she was awarded a JD. She then moved out to San Francisco, California, and worked as a counselor at the faculty Help Center at Stanford University, before serving as a consultant in areas such as personal injury and product liability, immigration/investment, international business, and estate planning with prestigious legal firms including those of Melvin Belli and Haas & Najarian. She later served her local community as a Commissioner of San Francisco 's Landmarks Preservation Advisory Board, first appointed by Mayor Frank Jordan, and then subsequently by Mayor Willie Brown Jr.
In the 1990's, Nancy discovered a passion for real estate investment and development, both on her own and in partnerships, starting with dilapidated apartment buildings and single-family homes, and moving on to a tourist hotel and a planned community. Throughout the early 1990's, Nancy served as the Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer, and Vice President and owner representative of a group that took a 5,000-acre parcel of underutilized agricultural land in Placer County northeast of Sacramento and helped it transform into the highly successful Twelve Bridges planned community and golf course in Lincoln, California.
Although she was an incredibly accomplished woman professionally, Nancy was perhaps most proud of her accomplishments of being role-model sister to her brothers, and a truly caring mother to her two children, William and Rebecca. Soon after she moved from Asia to North America, Nancy helped encourage three of her younger brothers to pursue higher education in Canada and the US. To them she was a role model, mentor, cheerleader, and second mother. Her son, William, earned an MD/PhD from Stanford University, was trained as an oncologist and currently works in clinical development in a biotechnology company. Her daughter, Rebecca, earned an MBA in Sustainable Management from Presidio Graduate School, and has worked for years at a children's services non-profit organization.
Nancy remained a brave and tenacious woman up until the end of her life, being so loved by her friends and family that she was able to spend her final days at home. She passed away peacefully in her sleep after a long illness. She took on this final challenge with courage, dignity and grace and was caring for others up until the end. She was preceded in death by her second husband, Melvin M. Belli, whom she married in 1996. She is survived by her children, Rebecca and William of San Francisco, and William's husband, Bruce Stuart, and her ex-husband, Robert Ho of Lincoln, California.