Obituary: Amber Zapatka, featured in video promoting plastics

Amber Zapatka, 27, of Lowell, Mass., died in a motorcycle accident on July 24 or 25 in Hudson, Mass.

Zapatka was a project engineer at Nypro Inc., and she was featured in a recent video that promoted careers in mold making.

“She was known for her great sense of humor, love of life, expertise in plastics and molding, and her willingness to take on anything. She loved what she did and everyone knew her. There is a lot of sadness around here,” said Al Cotton, spokesman for the Clinton, Mass.-based molder.

Zapatka was one of five young Nypro employees who were featured in the “Moldmaking Matters” video put together by Moldmaking Technology magazine. The video is available on YouTube.

Cotton said the video was introduced at NPE 2015 and will be shown at schools across the country this fall.

Zapatka appears in the video starting at about the 3:16 mark.

According to Hudson police, her body was discovered on the morning of July 25 off the road and down an embankment, near where the road makes a hard turn. The accident is under investigation, but authorities believe she lost control of her motorcycle sometime during the night. She was discovered by a jogger.

Zapatka earned bachelor's and master's degrees in plastics engineering from UMass Lowell. She started working at Nypro as a paid intern in June 2008. After receiving her bachelor's degree, she continued work at Nypro as a project engineer while attending night school to attain the master's degree.

She was one of very few women to be certified as a Master Molder Level III instructor, and was able to “train the trainer.”

“It is not often that you see a young woman interested in learning about tooling — she just wanted to know about it,” said Bob Malloy, chairman of the Plastics Engineering department at UMass Lowell.

Malloy said Zapatka brought a passion to whatever she did. She was on the rowing club at the school, rising at 5 a.m. for practices, and she also participated on a running team for the Reach the Beach event, a long-distance New Hampshire relay race from Bretton Woods to Hampton Beach.

She was active in all types of sports, including volleyball, golf and skiing. Zapatka was also known for spending hours making ornaments for an annual kids' Christmas party.

She is survived by her parents, Edwin and Lise. Services will be private, but a celebration of her life is planned for 5 p.m. on July 30 at Kimball Farm in Westford, Mass.