Marcedith M. Ware, a former employee of Merck, Sharp & Dohme Pharmaceuticals in Philadelphia, died Monday. She was 78 and lived in Lansdowne, Delaware County.

A former resident of Philadelphia, Ware had been a clerical worker for several years for the pharmaceutical firm. She was the former Marcedith Sheppard.

Her husband, Walton E. Ware, died in 1985.

She is survived by a sister, Esther E. Hummer.

Services will be at 2 p.m. tomorrow at the M.F. Williams Funeral Home, Baltimore and Summit avenues, Clifton Heights, where friends may call one hour before the service. Burial will be in Edgewood Memorial Park, Route 1, Glen

Mills, Delaware County.