Joseph James Mele

Mr. Joseph ‘Joe’ James Mele passed away at the age of 98 on October 26, 2021, in New Bern, North
Carolina. He was surrounded by family at the time of his death. Mr. Mele was married to his wife, Ida, for
57 years until her passing in 2005.

A Memorial Service will be held on Friday, October 29, 2021 at 3:30pm at St. Paul’s Catholic Church in New Bern. A reception will be held immediately following the Memorial Service in the church atrium.

Mr. Mele was accepted to the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute at the age of 16 where he studied to be an
Aeronautical Engineer and later earned his Masters’ degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Applied
Mechanics. He served in the Navy during World War II working on aircraft modifications. Later, he spent
his career at Grumman Aerospace Corporation where he served as Director of Manufacturing Research
and he also enjoyed his work as an adjunct instructor at Farmingdale State College.

Upon his retirement, Mr. Mele worked on a project to reduce the cost and waste of machining forgings
to final shape, a patented design called the MELEFORM Process. He continued to work on innovating and
inventing engineering processes; he took great pride in his work and was honored with a Lifetime
Achievement award from the National Sons of Italy.

Mr. Mele is survived by his daughter, Joan and her husband Kevin; daughter-in-law Christine Mele;
grandchildren Jeffrey and his wife Suzanne; and Allison and her husband Tom; five great-grandchildren
Henry, Mia, Joanna, Charlie, and Tess; and his longtime friend and companion, Florence Johnson. His son,
Joel Mele of Oriental, predeceased Mr. Mele. Funeral services were held on October 29, 2021 at 3:30pm
at St. Paul’s Catholic Church in New Bern. In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting that donations be
made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital using the following link.

https://fundraising.stjude.org/site/TR/GiftFunds/GiftFunds?px=7275882&pg=personal&fr_id=39300