Nat A. Popolo

April 16, 1927 - June 17, 2024

Nat Popolo, originally of Brooklyn NY and most recently living in Nashville, TN, passed on June 17th in the company of his loving wife Anne and his cat Susie.

The third child of Carmello and Ida Popolo, Nat was a proud product of Brooklyn and the depression, sharing shoes with his brother and holding odd jobs selling pretzels, shining shoes, and rebuilding motors to help support the family. He was predeceased by his brother Joseph Popolo, and his sister Katie Renna.

After graduating from Chelsea Vocational School in lower Manhattan, Nat was drafted into World War II and was dispatched to the 78th Infantry of the U.S. Army. He arrived in the European theater at the conclusion of the war and was transferred to the 78th Military Police in Berlin, Germany, where he was assigned a contingent of German POWs and Russian soldiers in various post-war restoration efforts. In a rare opportunity to promote peace among nations, Nat and his charges built a humble recreation of Ebbets Field so that the Allied troops and Russians could engage in some friendly baseball games in the years after the war.

Returning to the U.S., Nat used his technical degree to rise up the ladder of many of the aerospace and defense companies in the NY area including Armour Guidance and later Sperry Rand where he worked on the inertial guidance systems for the Atlas rocket still in use today, the B-58 bomber, and numerous other aircraft and missile systems in the burgeoning aerospace industry. After a downturn in defense, Nat found the job that would define the next 40 years of
his life, that of the one and only outside expeditor for Air Products and Chemicals of Allentown, PA. Traveling five days a week, it was not uncommon for Nat to fly a dozen or more one-way flight segments, crisscrossing the country and Europe to make surprise visits to the hundreds of vendors building heavy equipment for the chemical plants being built by Air Products and its subsidiaries. For a long stretch of his career, he was a million-mile flier for three different airlines at the same time. As an expeditor, it was incumbent upon him to show up unannounced in order to assess the true state of the projects being promised for delivery to some facility halfway across the country, and this element of the job perfectly suited his Brooklyn-style of doing business. Pity the vendor who was late with a project and not upfront about it in the first place.

Prior to joining the Army, Nat and friends had formed the Cheyenne social club and that’s where he met the love of his life and wife of 74 years, Maria “Anne” (Cataldo). They went on to have three children, all pet lovers like Nat.

Nat leaves his wife Anne and their three children, Carl and Joan Popolo of Carlisle, MA, Carole van Almelo and Doug of New York City, and Anthony Popolo of Nashville, TN, along with four beloved grandchildren Elizabeth Popolo of Williamsburg, MA, Alex van Almelo of San Diego, CA, Meredith Popolo of Stockholm, Sweden, and Nick van Almelo of Chicago, IL. Nat was always most animated while engaging with his grandchildren about his love for travel, animals, baseball and all things technical.

The family would like to recognize the love and support of the staff of Morningside of Belmont, particularly that of Fena Steele, Head Nurse and Scott Stubblefield, Director. There will be a celebration of life in Nat’s honor in New York City at a date to be determined later.