Saturday, October 10, 2026 | St. Lawrence County, NY
FORMERLY OF OGDENSBURG - Dr. Lawreen M. (Heller) Connors passed away on October 20th at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston after a courageous battle with cancer. Lawreen, the beloved wife of Michael K. Connors, of Woburn, was 70 years of age.
She was one of five children born in Ogdensburg, NY to the late Dr. Warren and Helen (Fleming) Heller. After graduating from high school at Ogdensburg Free Academy, she moved to Boston, where ultimately her passions would keep her.
Lawreen began what would be a lengthy career in higher education at Boston College, where she earned her BS in Math and Chemistry. From there she went on to Tufts University to attain an MS in Chemistry, and continued her career at Boston University.
While working at BU, she met and married her husband, Michael Connors, to whom she was devoted for the next forty-three years. She was able to deftly balance her love of family with her dedication to science, completing her Doctorate Degree in Biochemistry concurrently with the birth of their first child.
To her, family was always most important; she spent nine years as a stay-at-home mom, dedicating herself to the development of her three children. A woman of strong lifelong Catholic faith, she found joy in volunteering at several parishes around Woburn – and additional joy in the discovery of her Jewish roots later in life.
She loved to explore and travel, and would often build summer work conferences into entire two week road trips with her family. On weekends you could find her walking around Horn Pond, visiting with her grandchildren, going on long bike rides with her husband, or watching sports – but only after starting her morning with a cappuccino and a few hours of classical music.
Lawreen was a professor of Pathology and Biochemistry in the Chobanian and Avedesian School of Medicine at Boston University. She was a valued member of the Amyloidosis Center. Over a career of more than 40 years of research on amyloid proteins and amyloidosis diseases, she made countless discoveries on amyloid protein structure along with related molecular and cell biology basic science. In addition, she developed clinical assays for amyloid proteins that supported care of patients with amyloidosis and became worldwide standards. Her scientific publications on the many types of amyloid proteins and amyloidosis diseases number in the hundreds.
Lawreen directed the Gerry Amyloidosis Laboratory in the Amyloidosis Center overseeing the research of students, fellows, and technicians. She was internationally recognized for her work and served several officer positions in the International Society of Amyloidosis. In addition, she was a capable peer reviewer for academic journals, and served on the Editorial Board of the journal “Amyloid”.
Countless numbers of Masters and Doctoral students of Medicine, Biochemistry, and Pathology will remember her fondly for her superb training and mentorship. Her greatest passion was teaching students, and she always supported them with encouragement and generous opportunities for advancement.
She was known to have “an open-door policy” and students regularly stopped in for Lawreen to look over their research. Her love of teaching was not limited to her time at the Amyloidosis Center, either; she also carved out time to teach pre-calculus to students at Bunker Hill Community College. Lawreen retired from BU in 2022 as Emeritus Professor, Pathology & Laboratory Medicine.
Dr. Lawreen Connors will be greatly missed by family, friends, colleagues, collaborators, former students, and the amyloidosis research world.
A Funeral will be held on Tuesday, October 29th, in St. Charles Church, 280 Main Street, Woburn, at 10 a.m.. Interment is Private. Relatives and friends are respectfully invited to Calling hours in the Lynch-Cantillon Funeral Home, 263 Main Street, Woburn, on Monday, October 28th, 4-7 p.m.
In Lieu of flowers, contributions can be made in her name to the Dr. Lawreen Connors Research Scholar Fund. www.bu.edu/amyloid/donate
