A bachelor, he became a good friend of the dancer (and fellow teacher at Bennington) Bill Bales, of his wife Jo Van Fleet, and of their son Michael Bales, and regularly spent holidays with this family at Bennington or in New York City.
After retiring from Bennington College, he continued to live in North Bennington, Vermont and held the position of Professor Emeritus of Language and Literature at the college.
He died in Bennington on August 17, 2003, at the age of 92 and was buried in Manchester, Vermont.
[3] The 1962 ballet A Look at Lightning, by the American choreographer Martha Graham was titled after a poem by Belitt.
Errand into the Maze, also by Graham, takes its title from a Belitt poem as well.