Rich Bellezza, CEO and general manager of New Leaf Distributing Company, died in Douglasville, Ga., on October 5, after a long battle with a rare blood disease. He was 53. Bellezza joined New Leaf in 1981, six years after the company was founded as a distributor of alternative health and New Age titles. He began as general manager of daily operations; rose to become CFO and assumed the CEO position upon the retirement of New Leaf's founder Alim Thompson in 1994. He was also instrumental in New Leaf's move to its permanent headquarters in Lithia Springs, Ga., in 1995.