Mary Ann Killinger, 82, a longtime Montgomery County deputy district attorney

Mary Ann Killinger, 82, of Flourtown, a longtime deputy district attorney in Montgomery County, died Thursday, June 20, of complications from Alzheimer’s disease at Blue Bell Place.

Mrs. Killinger spent her entire career as a prosecutor in the District Attorney’s Office in Norristown, beginning in 1979 and ending with her retirement in 2008. She practiced in and later led the trials division and then the appellate unit. She worked under numerous district attorneys.

Patricia E. Coonahan, now a Montgomery County Court judge, was Mrs. Killinger’s colleague in the District Attorney’s Office for 20 years.

“She was tough, and she knew what she was supposed to do,” Coonahan said. “She took her oath of office very seriously.”

Mrs. Killinger was born to Donald and Teresa MacNeil in Brooklyn, N.Y. She moved with her family to Teaneck and then Tenafly, both in New Jersey.

She graduated from the Academy of the Holy Angels in Bergen County and from Notre Dame of Maryland University with a bachelor’s degree in English in 1959. She earned a master’s degree in English from the University of Pittsburgh.

Mrs. Killinger moved to New York to take a job as an editor at Industrial Design Magazine. While there, she went on a blind date with Scott Killinger. They married in 1965.

The couple moved to Fort Washington, where they raised three boys. During that period, Mrs. Killinger was a member of the William Jeanes Library in Whitemarsh. She loved being a mother.

“She was always a strong presence at school functions, swim meets, water polo games, and fund-raising spaghetti dinners,” her family wrote in a tribute.

Once her sons started school, Mrs. Killinger earned a degree from Villanova University School of Law in 1978. She clerked for Montgomery County Judge Horace Davenport. While working in the District Attorney’s Office, she was active in the Montgomery County Bar Association and with the Montgomery Child Advocacy Project, which helps abused and neglected children.

She mentored many aspiring assistant district attorneys, including Coonahan.

“She was very kind, calm, very proper, and very, very bright,” Coonahan said. “She was so nice to me and more or less took me under her wing when I first met her as a summer intern. She encouraged me to be an assistant DA.”

In a case dating to 1978 that demonstrates her firmness, Mrs. Killinger blocked the bid of convicted killer Michael Vaccarello, son of an Upper Merion Township attorney, to have his life sentence shortened. Vaccarello had pleaded guilty to killing a hitchhiker whose car had broken down. He then served 12 years.

Seventeen at the time of the crime, Vaccarello led a model life at Dallas state prison in Luzerne County, earning high school and college degrees. Mrs. Killinger acknowledged Vaccarello’s efforts to turn his life around but told the state Board of Pardons that he had not been punished enough, the Allentown Morning Call reported in 1990.

"A life sentence should mean something more in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania than 12 years," she was quoted as saying. Vaccarello was released in 1997 after serving 19 years.

When not at work, Mrs. Killinger enjoyed spending time with friends and neighbors. She and her husband traveled the world and attended symphonies, operas, and musicals.

In addition to her husband, Mrs. Killinger is survived by sons Matthew, Daniel, and James; eight grandchildren; and nieces and nephews.

A visitation starting at 9 a.m. Wednesday, June 26, at St. Genevieve Church, 1225 Bethlehem Pike, Flourtown, will be followed by a 10:30 Funeral Mass. Interment is private.

Donations may be made to the Montgomery Child Advocacy Project, care of Mary Pugh, 409 Cherry St., Norristown, Pa. 19401, or via www.mcapkids.org/donate.