Condolences pour into online guest book from the many community members who knew and loved her. 

Funeral services for Maria Madden, COMMON conference and expo manager, were held Saturday, July 16, at the Conboy-Westchester Funeral Home in Westchester, Ill, followed by a Mass at St. Mary Church, Riverside, according to the Chicago Tribune. Family and friends were received at the funeral home on Friday, July 15. Interment was private. 

Maria, wife of Wayne Madden, Penton Media digital media and communications market leader, and past president of COMMON, lived in LaGrange, Ill. She died last week at the age of 37 following a lengthy battle with cancer. The family requested donations in lieu of flowers be made to a special family-intention fund to provide assistance to another woman fighting the same disease. 

A 1996 graduate of Illinois State University, and scholar at Roosevelt University, Maria was a certified meeting planner and a member of the Professional Meetings and Convention Association. She worked in the hospitality industry as a meeting planner and special projects manager for the American Bar Association for two years until 2000, according to her LinkedIn profile. She later worked as a strategic account manager for Experient, a meeting and event planning service, but became COMMON's official conference and expo manager in 2007. She was responsible for numerous COMMON conferences around the country known for their detailed organization and near flawless execution.

She is survived by her husband, Wayne, her parents Joseph and Adele DiNatale, her three brothers Joseph, Marc, and Michael, two sisters, Cara DiNatale and Katherine Campbell, their respective spouses and children. Friends and members of the COMMON community already have left numerous messages of condolence at the Chicago Tribune guest book here, where others may pay their respects to one of the best liked and well known driving forces behind the IBM midrange community.