Angelo Leparulo

Angelo Leparulo was born February 17, 1928 in New York, the youngest son of Anthony and Vincenza Leparulo. A first generation American, he was selected to attend Brooklyn Tech High School, the largest secondary school for science, technology and engineering in the nation, and New York Military Academy. He obtained his Bachelor's degree from Cornell University and his Master's in Chemical Engineering from Columbia University. From 1953-1956, he served in the United States Naval Reserve as Lieutenant. In 1950, he met the love of his life, Marie Belluscio, proposed on their first date, and began a marriage that lasted for 60 years until his death. They had 4 children, Laura, Joyce, Peter and Ronald, and there are 10 grandchildren. Whatever else his accomplishments, Angelo's greatest joy, and most important priority in his life, was his family. Angelo had an extensive career in business. In 1973, he joined Occidental Petroleum and served in numerous executive capacities. He was President of Occidental Engineering Co. and, when it purchased Adtek, Inc., he came Chairman of the Board. He was also Chief Executive Officer of Occidental Shale, Inc., which pioneered new shale extraction processes and conducted the first 'in situ' experiment to fracture oil shale. Until 1996, he served as Executive Vice President of Occidental Petroleum Corporation. Starting in 1973, he consummated a series of high profile joint trade agreements under the administrations of three General Secretaries of the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China. During a period of détente between the United States and the Soviet Union, these became known as the first "détente-through-trade' initiatives. He also spearheaded energy exploration and development agreements with heads of state and Ministries of Foreign Trade of numerous countries, including Azerbaijan, Georgia, Italy, and Japan. Prior to Occidental, Angelo founded and was President and Chairman of Electromedia, Inc., which designed power systems for NASA and the Department of Defense. He began his career as Vice President of Yardney Corporation, where under his direction Yardney was among the first companies in the world to commercialize rechargeable power sources. He was the inventor under several patents related to electrochemical processes and electric vehicles. Angelo was an avid fundraiser for the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation, which provides scholarships to children of United States Marines and Navy corpsmen.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a gift to support lymphoma research under Dr. Sven de Vos at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, and indicate that your gift is in memory of Angelo Leparulo.