Mary Ellen (Bryant) Vitrano

Mary Ellen (Bryant) Vitrano, 81, of Palm Beach, Florida passed away peacefully after a brief illness in Palm Beach on April 24, 2024. Mary Ellen was the beloved wife of the late John Vitrano; loving mother of Mary Ellen and her husband, Luciano, Andrew and his wife Margaret and Jean and her husband Michael; cherished grandmother to her 7 grandchildren Gillian, Joseph, John, Emery, Knox, Ella and James; and dear sister to William and his wife Maureen. Mary Ellen was born on January 20, 1943 to Marie and William Bryant. She and her younger brother, Bill, grew up in a modest apartment in lower Manhattan. When they were only teenagers, their father passed away suddenly, but with much love they persevered. Mary Ellen met her husband, John, through neighborhood friends as teenagers and they were married in 1965 in New York City. Together, they were driven by a joint passion to be successful in their endeavors, raise a loving family, and to live in beautiful places. Soon after the birth of their first child, they relocated to Palm Beach, Florida and, after several years, then to New Jersey. Upon the birth of their youngest child, they moved to Laurel Hollow on the North Shore of Long Island until 1989, when they returned to Palm Beach. Ahead of her time, Mary Ellen was one of the first female computer programmers to work for New York Life Insurance Company and Shell Oil Company. She highly valued education for her and her children. While raising three children, she finished her college degree and graduated with a B.A. in Business Management from Marymount Manhattan College. She continued on to get her M.B.A. from Adelphi University in 1989, while working full-time as a computer programmer and systems analyst for Grumman Aerospace Corporation. Shortly after moving to Florida in 1989, she became a College Professor teaching computer science and economics at Palm Beach State College, where she taught until she retired in 2016. Along the way she assisted her husband, John, as a restaurateur. Mary Ellen was tireless in all of her endeavors, extremely devoted to her family and friends, had a passion for life and was not ready to go. Her loss is felt deeply by all who knew and loved her. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the American Lung Association on Mary Ellen’s behalf.