Margaret (Maggie) Pinelli a devoted wife, mother, sister, aunt and friend, passed away peacefully at home on May 19, 2026, after a 14 month, courageous battle with pancreatic cancer.
Maggie was born November 13, 1960, in Los Angeles, California, the second of two daughters of Thomas and Nilda Fenyo. Maggie was extremely close with her sister Annie throughout her lifetime. Maggie primarily grew up in Saratoga, California. She attended Blue Hills School, Miller Jr. High, and Lynbrook High School graduating in 1979.
After a short time as a bank teller, Maggie enrolled in court reporting school to become a certified short hand reporter. The court reporting program was a tough program requiring the student to be able to take down a person speaking non-stop at 200 words per minute for 15 straight minutes (twice as fast as normal speech) with 95% accuracy. Maggie passed the test on the first try. She then proceeded to work as a deposition reporter for 15 years. Maggie highly valued a good education. While working as a court reporter, she commuted from Saratoga to the University of California Berkeley for her undergraduate studies, earning a degree in Anthropology in 1993. She went on to complete the course work for a masters degree in Anthropology at Cal with an emphasis on Folklore, studying under of one the pre-eminent educators in the world in that field.
Maggie met her husband Tony on November 9, 1984, on a blind date, set up by mutual friends. They married on October 11, 1986, nearly 40 years ago. On November 13, 2000 - on her 40th birthday - she gave birth to Matthew (Matt), whom she loved deeply. She poured herself into her role as a mother, actively participating in Matt's school and sports activities, making many friends along the way. One example of her devotion as a mother: Even though she feared the water and had never learned to swim as a young person because of that fear, when Matt was born she learned how to swim, just so she could rescue him if he ever fell into the pool. She helped pave the way of Matt's education success, and was beaming with pride at Matt's college and graduate school graduation ceremonies, the latter of which was just after she started chemo in the Spring of 2025 .
Maggie was a very intelligent, kind, beautiful, gentle, elegant, and sweet woman with a great smile. She had array of interests, including history - particularly World War II, cultural anthropology, reading, cooking, knitting and travel. She was a phenomenal cook. She was a great listener. She and Tony travelled extensively together, primarily in Europe before Matt was born, then took him along afterwards. Some special trips included trips to Oktoberfest, a trip to Sorrento to visit Matt on a semester in Italy, a trip to the 40th anniversary of D-day in Normandy, a Christmas market trip along the Danube, and most recently, a Fall 2025 trip with some dear friends to Tuscany and Amalfi - 6 months into her diagnosis with pancreatic cancer where she was still able to out-walk the rest of us despite her illness.
Maggie is survived by her husband Tony, her son Matt, her sister Annie and many nieces and nephews.
A memorial mass will be held at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Saratoga at 10:30 a.m. on Friday May 29, 2026.