Popeo (Robert) is born in Boston.

The son of Italian immigrants, Robert Popeo grows up in East Boston, graduates from Christopher Columbus High School, Northeastern University, and Boston College Law School. He marries Elizabeth Heffernan in 1966, and after working for the U.S. Department of Justice and the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office, joins Mintz, Levin, Cohn & Glovsky in 1971, and becomes the top white collar criminal defense attorney in the city. Popeo dies in Needham on July 3, 2023.