The Department of Communication lost a beloved colleague and longtime teacher when Tom Costello passed away on April 15, 2020. Tom taught decades of University of Illinois students, and was especially influential in the lives of our undergraduate majors. While many across Champaign-Urbana will remember Tom for how he made life better for everyone in this community, we remember him best as the funny, engaging, supportive, and often wonderfully irreverent colleague who devoted himself to teaching students not only how to be good communicators, but also good people. We will miss him dearly. You may read his full obituary here.

One way we can remember and celebrate Tom is to do something he did so well: tell stories. We invite you to share below your reminiscences of Tom and stories about his impact on you as a teacher. We will collect and share your comments with Tom's family in time. (Illini, don't forget to sign your comment with your name and graduation year.)