The New York Times brought six Pulitzer Prizes for news and feature photography during her 14-year tenure as a top newsroom manager, and she died in February.
Her daughter said the cause was pneumonia.
The Times named Ms. McNally their director of photography in 2004. She became the first photo editor to join the masthead when she was promoted to assistant managing editor.
Dean Baquet, The Times's current executive editor, said that she was a transformational figure.
The Times had won more Pulitzer Prizes, George M. Polk Awards, Overseas Press Club honors, and other citations during Ms. McNally's tenure.
In 2009, for his coverage of Barack Obama's presidential campaign, as well as Josh Haner's photo essay on a Boston Marathon bombing victim who had lost most of his legs, were among the Pulitzer Prize winners on her watch.
In 2008, Ms. McNally won the Jim Gordon Editor of the Year Award for photojournalism from the National Press Photographers Association, and in both 2015 and 2017 she received the Angus McDougallVisual Editing Award from the organization Pictures of the Year International at the Missouri School of Journalism.
The Times was better known for showcasing its writers and reporters than it was for its photographers and photo editors. Ms. McNally made her position clear from the beginning. Mr. Baquet said the paper's photography was not living up to its words.
She showed how stories could be told through photographs alone and how articles in the newspaper could be enhanced visually to attract more readers. The advent of NYTimes.com online gave rise to many new opportunities to complement articles with images and to present stories visually.
She pushed a reluctant newsroom, hired an all-star staff and made The Times the best visual report in the country.
On June 25, 1955, in Brooklyn, Rose Francis (Martire) Fiordelisi, an administrative assistant and seamstress, and her husband, Michael Leonardo Fiordelisi, who worked for the Post Office, had a child, named Michele.
She studied mass communications at Queens College and film at Brooklyn College after graduating from South Shore High School. She worked in the audio and video division of the Brooklyn Public Library for a short time in 1977.
Ms. McNally was remembered as a giant in a tiny body by her first boss.
Ms. McNally was said to have been self-conscious about her height but never gave up. During a retirement toast, she said that her old boss told her that she was small, but she didn't know it.
Her support for photographers in the field and her honesty in assessing their work were recalled by other former colleagues.
She was fond of great photography and the brave and dedicated photographers.
Her marriage ended in divorce. She is survived by her daughter, her granddaughters, and a sister. Ms. McNally lived in New York.
She was picture editor of Fortune magazine from 1986 until 2004, and picture editor of Time Life from 1980 to 1986.
She proceeded to teach me everything I know about visual editing, about the art of making an inspired match between photographer and story, about coaching.
She told readers in an online Q. and A feature that she had never been a photographer herself. She said that she is a visual person. I have to show you something.
She said to be certain of your mission, but be prepared to grow. Work hard. Be curious, persistent and gracious. It is a gift when people let you into their lives.
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