James H. Quello

James Henry Quello (April 21, 1914 – January 24, 2010) was a broadcaster and later government official who oversaw the communications industry. Quello was born in Laurium, Michigan. He was a Commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and, in 1993, served as the Acting Chairman of the Commission. His term as Acting Chairman ended when Reed Hundt was confirmed by the U.S. Senate. He stepped down as an FCC commissioner in 1998. Quello was a Democrat who was appointed to the FCC by a Republican president, Richard Nixon.

He was a World War II veteran during the European conflict in 1941–1945 and friend of American president Gerald Ford. At the time of his death he was the chairman of James H. Quello and Mary B. Quello Center for Telecommunication Management and Law at Michigan State University which was named in honor of the former commissioner and his wife. Up until his death Quello was also working as a consultant in the Government Affairs law office of Wiley Rein.

Quello hailed from Laurium, Michigan, in the Upper Peninsula (often called "U.P."), where his parents settled after immigrating from northern Italy; he also had a sister, Alice, who later settled in Pennsylvania. Quello, along with his future wife Mary (who died in October 1999), were undergraduate students at Michigan State University in the 1930s. James graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree and he and Mary were married September 14, 1937. In 1998, Michigan State University honored both with the creation of the James H. Quello and Mary B. Quello Center for Telecommunication Management and Law. James served on the Board of the Center and was also affiliated with Wiley Rein, a prominent Washington, D.C. law firm. In addition to numerous awards for his public service, Quello received awards and honorary degrees from Northern Michigan University and Michigan State University.

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