Mary Ellen McNamara, known as Mel among her friends, died suddenly on Dec. 22. She was 67.

She leaves behind her husband of 43 years, 68-year old John, as well as two sons, 36-year old Jack of New York City and 33-year old Dennis of Austin, Tex.

She was a native of Burlington and the oldest of six siblings. She graduated from UMass Amherst in 1979 with a bachelor’s degree in marketing and would later earn a Six Sigma Black Belt certificate from the United States Air Force Academy.

Over the course of her career, Mel put together an accomplished resume working as a process excellence engineer for high-profile corporations including Staples, Bose, Phillips and Amazon. In addition, she was an author and sat for nearly a decade on the board of trustees at UMass Memorial Medical Center of Worcester.

She split time between her homes in Edgartown and Naples, Fla., where she volunteered for Habitat for Humanity and the Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve.

Her funeral will be held at Our Lady of Good Voyage in Boston at 12 p.m. on Jan. 3, 2024.

Memorial contributions may be made to Habitat for Humanity or the Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve.