Jill Costello
Jillian Helene Weinkauf Costello (December 1, 1987 – June 24, 2010), better known simply as Jill Costello, was an American athlete and activist for lung cancer awareness and research. She is best known for leading the California Golden Bears crew as varsity coxswain while fighting against stage IV lung cancer. Costello was an otherwise healthy, 21-year-old non-smoker, when she was diagnosed with cancer. In 2011 she was inducted into both the NCAA Hall of Fame and the UC Berkeley Golden Bears Hall of Fame. Personal life Jill Costello was born in San Francisco, California to mother Mary Costello and father Jim Costello. She has two older brothers, Jimmy and Kevin. She attended high school at St. Ignatius College Preparatory and is an alumna of the University of California, Berkeley. She performed as a dancer with the San Francisco Ballet by the age of 9. During her year-long battle with cancer, Costello completed her degree in political economy of industrial societies with a 4.0 GPA, was the Cal Greek System's Panhellenic Vice President, was an active member of Kappa Kappa Gamma, raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for lung cancer research, and was an active member of Cal Bears women's varsity