Marilee Sipski

Mary Leonide (Marilee) Sipski, age 72, of Palm Coast, FL, passed away Thursday morning, March 16, 2023, at home in the presence of her devoted husband of 43 years, Thomas Lammertse. 

Marilee was born to Joseph Sipski and Sophia Marcewicz Sipski and raised in Bridgewater, NJ. She attended St. Mary’s Parish School in Bound Brook, NJ and later graduated from La Reine High School in Suitland, MD in 1968. She went on to earn a Bachelor’s Degree from Douglass College in New Brunswick, NJ in 1972, during which time she sang at Carnegie Hall as part of her college choir. She later earned a PhD in Biochemistry from Ohio University in Athens, OH in 1976 and an MD from The Ohio State University (OSU) in Columbus, OH in 1979. She completed her residency medical training at OSU in 1983, and later went on to earn a Master of Medical Management (MMM) degree from the University of Southern California in 2003. 

After completing her residency training, she worked as a Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) physician at Gaylord Hospital in Wallingford, CT from 1983-1990, eventually becoming Director of PM&R. In 1990, she moved with her family to Chester, NJ to assume the position of Director of Outpatient Rehabilitation at Welkind Rehabilitation Hospital there. Marilee temporarily left medical practice in 1997 to start a career in the medical insurance industry. She served as Medical Director for Consumer Health Network from 1997-2004 and later worked for Innovative Claims Strategies, LLC until 2009. In 2011, she returned to medical practice, this time at Hampstead Rehabilitation Centre in Adelaide, South Australia where she served as Director of Brain Injury and Rehabilitation and as a consultant for brain injury rehabilitation services. In 2014, she returned to the United States to assume the position of Medical Director for the Acute Rehabilitation Unit at UC Irvine (UCI) Medical Center in Irvine, CA. At UCI, she also served as the Director of the Residency Program in PM&R and as a Health Sciences Clinical Professor. Marilee retired from medical practice in 2016. 

Marilee was a prolific traveler and adventurer. In her lifetime, she visited over 60 countries across 6 continents, from Australia and Myanmar to Jordan, Finland, and Brazil. She enjoyed hiking, scuba diving, and fitness. In 1980 she hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, and in 1984, she backpacked for several days in the Alaskan wilderness. She thoroughly documented all her travels in thousands of photographs that she loved to share with her friends and family. She also enjoyed needlepoint stitching, with which she made numerous crafts for her family including children’s Christmas stockings and pillows. She was fluent in Polish and shared her heritage with the Catholic community growing up; she passed on her Polish heritage to her family through her cooking and travels. Above all, Marilee radiated love and compassion for her family and could be relied on to lend an ear and dispense wisdom at any hour of the day. Marilee met her husband during Medical School and they were married on June 16, 1979 at St. Mary’s R.C. church in Bound Brook, NJ.

Marilee and Thomas shared their love of traveling and hiking together and enjoyed many adventures both across the United States and abroad. 

Besides her husband, Marilee is survived by her three children, Meredith Kiung of Wayne, NJ, Matthew Lammertse of Jersey City, NJ, and Evan Lammertse of Rochester, NY, her three granddaughters Ryan and Brooks Kiung and Ava Lammertse, her sister Marcalee Alexander and brother Gregg Sipski, nephews Jagger and Sterling Alexander, cousin Ken Marcewicz, and numerous other relatives. 

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations to Sustain our Abilities (www.sustainourabilities.org) can be made.