On Tuesday evening, August 2, William Burrows Mercaldi quietly departed this life to be with the Lord that he lovingly served. William was born in 1926 in Beverly to immigrant parents from Italy and Ireland who instilled in him the virtues of hard work, humility and deep faith. A determined athlete, William captained the undefeated 1940 Briscoe Junior High School football team and the Beverly High School Track Team. He worked the fields at Cherry Hill Farm and tended other farm animals on the McKay property before school. Upon high school graduation, he trained to become an electronic technician in the US Navy, where he served in the Pacific theater on the destroyer tender USS Cascade at the close of WWII. Upon his return, in addition to marrying his high school sweetheart, Jane Phillips Thompson, and starting a family, William passed exams for admission to Harvard University on the GI bill, where, he earned a Master's Degree in electrical engineering. The family made several moves in William's early career with IBM, the last of which brought him to Lincoln Labs on a joint project with MIT. There he supervised 80 technicians and engineers installing and maintaining over 50 monitors as part of the then-largest computer in the world which was being constructed for the defense of the US East coast against potential air attack. Strong family roots returned him to Beverly, where he joined the United Shoe Machinery Corporation's Research and Development division. He finished his professional career there and was granted several US patents for machinery design. Throughout and far outlasting his engineering career were his acts of faithful service to every congregation to which he and Jane belonged during their life together, touching the lives of countless people. William was motivated to point people toward Jesus Christ because he loved them. With a young family, William first served for several years as Sunday School superintendent at the Centerville Christian Endeavor Church. For most of his later life he served as a church elder. He supervised construction of a new church building and parsonage for First Presbyterian Church in Ipswich. After moving to Concord, he served as an elder for Redeemer Presbyterian church. He also spent every Monday evening for 14 years in the Concord prison (Northeast Correctional Center) talking with the inmates, as if they were his children, about a new life with Christ. William led his last Bible study at his residence last week, at the age of 96. William was an avid vegetable gardener and freely shared his harvest with friends and family. He is survived by his wife of 75 years, and best friend, Jane, their children: Martha, David, Cynthia and Anne, 10 grandchildren and 17 great grandchildren. He was proud of them all. Family and friends will gather for his funeral service on Tuesday, August 9th at 10 am in the Farrar Chapel of Dee Funeral Home, 27 Bedford Street, Concord, MA. Burial with U.S. Navy military honors will follow at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. Concord's Town Flag will fly at half-staff on Tuesday, August 9th in recognition of William's honorable service to our country during World War II. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to the Redeemer Presbyterian Church at their mailing address, 191 Sudbury Road, Concord, MA 01742. Arrangements are under the care of Dee Funeral Home & Cremation Service of Concord.