Mary Beth Benison, Owner of CocoBeni Confections, Passes Away at 53

Mary Beth Benison, Shrewsbury resident and owner of CocoBeni Confections in Northborough, passed away earlier this week in her sleep. She was 53.

While many knew she battled ALS, fewer knew she had also fought other offenders to her body. As Dianne Williamson shared in a column earlier this year in the Worcester Telegram and Gazette, Benison had a tumor removed on her brain in 1999, and in 2004, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. And last June, Benison’s doctors diagnosed her with mesothelioma; she had another tumor removed.

“I’ve had a lot of practice learning to accept bad news,” she told Williamson. “But I didn’t think there could be any more after that.”

Benison learned late last year that she had ALS, and the “disease quickly made its presence known.”

Jess, a baker at CocoBeni, made the announcement of Benison’s death on Monday on the company’s Facebook page:

“I just wanted to inform you that after a long and courageous battle of ALS our founder and dearest friend Mary Beth passed away last night in her sleep. Although the void cannot be filled to replace our beloved friend, I must ensure you the business will be open as usually. It was a promise I made to MB to keep her dream alive. Please continue to support us and her dream and she will forever be grateful. We will have limited hours this week to celebrate her life so please understand we don’t want to turn away business however this is time we need to heal our pain and loss so we may not be able to accommodate all orders. Mary Beth with forever be missed. We love you dearly MB. Our thoughts and prayers to the entire Benison family and anyone who had the privilege to know such an amazing woman. We love you Mary Beth ♥♥♥”

According to Heald and Chiampa, funeral arrangements for Benison are incomplete.

Photo via CocoBeni Confections/Facebook