Maureen C. Kelly, scientific publishing expert, business strategy innovator, and nature enthusiast, has died at 79

Maureen C. Kelly, 79, of Haddonfield, longtime vice president of operations and then planning and strategic development at BIOSIS scientific database publishing, former director of strategic development at Nstein Technologies, electronic publishing and information retrieval consultant, and lifelong nature enthusiast, died Saturday, May 6, of autoimmune hepatitis at Brandywine Living at Haddonfield senior assisted center.

Mrs. Kelly was inspired as a girl by the fields and woods of rural Pennsauken to earn a bachelor’s degree in biology at Rutgers University. She went on to a 50-year career of publishing enormous amounts of various scientific literature and creating innovative methods to make information ever more accessible as the internet and other forms of communication emerged.

She began writing abstracts — short summaries of longer scientific pieces — at BIOSIS in the late 1960s and rose to company vice president of planning by the time she left in 2001. At Nstein, a content management company, she continued to plan corporate projects, provide business direction, and generally ensure that people anywhere could share data and research as effectively as possible.

Her professional passion, her family said in a tribute, was to “improve science and its service to society.”

“She was about bringing people together, finding ways they could share information, and how to solve problems,” said her son, Brendan. “She was motivated by sharing and a deep curiosity.”

Mrs. Kelly left Nstein in 2004 and worked as an electronic publishing consultant until a few years ago. She contracted with companies around the country, spoke at publishing and content sharing conferences, mentored colleagues, and advocated for women in science and elsewhere.

She was past president of the Association of Information and Dissemination Centers, a member of the planning committee for the National Federation of Advanced Information Services, and section secretary at the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

“Her passion was learning about the world,” her family said. “She loved discovering new things.”

Mrs. Kelly told her son she was especially motivated to excel in the scientific world after a college professor told her that women were not suited for such careers. “She was a tough person,” her son said.

Born April 24, 1944, in Camden, Maureen Frances Connelly grew up in Pennsauken and liked to roam the countryside. Her mother, Irene, grew up on a farm and passed her appreciation of open spaces on to her daughter, and Mrs. Kelly supported conservation efforts, especially in the Pinelands, for the rest of her life.

She graduated first in her class at Pennsauken High School in 1962 and was the first in her family to attend college. She taught school for a year before taking a job writing abstracts at BIOSIS and studied for a time at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

She married David Lefever in 1967. After a divorce, she met Joseph Kelly at a New Year’s Eve party, and they married in 1979. They had son Brendan, and she lived for nearly six decades in Haddonfield. Her husband died in 2013.

Away from work, Mrs. Kelly liked to read about science, history, Catholic theology, and other topics. She was close to her daughter-in-law, Rhea Powell, and read and crafted often with her grandchildren, Malcolm and Juno.

She enjoyed rambling among the plants and trees near her home, and sometimes brought back leaves and flowers for closer inspection. She preferred walking and public transit over driving, sewed many of her own clothes, weaved intricate baskets, and created singular pots of clay.

She was giving with her time and talent. “She loved her friends and family with deep kindness and generosity,” her family said, “particularly in times of sadness or need.”

In addition to her son, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren, Mrs. Kelly is survived by a sister and other relatives.

Visitation with the family is to be from 2 to 3:15 p.m. Saturday, May 13, at Kain-Murphy Funeral Services, 15 West End Ave., Haddonfield, N.J. 08033. A celebration of her life is to follow at 3:30.

Donations in her name may be made to the Pinelands Preservation Alliance, 17 Pemberton Rd., Southampton, N.J. 08088.