Obituary of Laura L. Nally

Laura Lee Nally, 76, of Morristown, NJ passed away on April 15, 2025, in Chatham. Laura was born in Dumont, NJ to Lee and Edna Hensler on April 23, 1948.

 A 1966 graduate of Summit High School, she went on to earn a BA in Chemistry at Lycoming College in Pennsylvania in 1970. In 1979, she obtained an MBA in Pharmaceutical Marketing at Fairleigh Dickinson University. Immediately after her college graduation, Laura began working at Sandoz Pharmaceuticals in East Hanover. It was a career in which she would thrive, retiring from the same company (now Novartis), as a Director of Quality Assurance in 2003.

Outside of her worklife, Laura was a devoted and reliable alto in the choir at Calvary Episcopal Church in Summit and later at Grace Episcopal Church in Madison. In addition, she volunteered with Friends of the Great Swamp, serving as the organization’s president from 2009 thru 2011. In conjunction with her efforts there, she received the President’s Volunteer Service Lifetime Achievement Award in January 2017 from President Barack Obama.

Laura is survived by her husband, Joseph D. Nally, by her sons Bryan C. Nally and his wife Marie, and Douglas M. Nally, by her siblings David L. Hensler and his wife Carole, and Sandra S. Walker, by her aunt Carol Swenson, by her niece Caitlin Argueta her husband José and daughter Dakota, and by her nephew Stephen L. Hensler. Laura is predeceased by her father F. Lee Hensler and mother Edna S. Hensler.

A remembrance of Laura and her life will be held at the Burroughs, Kohr & Dangler Funeral Home at 106 Main St. in Madison on April 28th from 5 - 8 p.m.

Laura was an avid outdoorswoman with a great passion for the protection of the natural environment, especially at the Great Swamp and other National Wildlife Refuges.Donations in Laura’s memory can be made to Friends of the Great Swamp at 32 Pleasant Plains Rd., Basking Ridge, NJ 07920, or online at (www.friendsofgreatswamp.org).