Ronald Edward Costello
April 19, 1944 - November 28, 2020

Ron Costello, 76, went to be with his Lord and Savior on November 28, 2020, because of complications from the Chinese Corona Virus. He was also recently diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer and was receiving care through a clinical trial at Honor Health Research Institute in Scottsdale, AZ. He made it through the first 5 weeks of treatment relatively unscathed and was seeing some amazing results prior to contracting the virus. This treatment, while not curative, gave him hope, a plan, and more quality time to spend living with his son Brett, daughter-in-law Andrea, grandchildren Charlie and Cooper, and wife Christa. He was truly happy and optimistic most of the time during the last couple of months of his life despite his daunting circumstances.

Ron was born on April 19, 1944, in Hammonton, New Jersey to Harriet and Eddie along with his younger brother Larry. He was the senior class president, lettered in 3 sports, and was in the Army ROTC program. He joined the U.S. Army from 66'-71' and served in the Army Intelligence Service as a Russian linguist with the mission of secretly monitoring Soviet radio communications while stationed in Germany and Turkey during the Vietnam War. During the first year of his military service, Ron had a son named Eric with his girlfriend at the time, but due to his deployment overseas, their relationship failed. And while Ron financially supported their son Eric until he was 18, they did not have a relationship until they reconciled much later in life which lasted until Eric's passing in 2012.

During his time stationed in Germany, he met the first true love of his life, Christa Nusshardt, in a small village in Bavaria called Mauth. They spent as much time together as possible in between his military duties, but Ron was eventually called back to the U.S. and was honorably discharged after 4 years of service. He went back to Germany the following summer to spend more time with Christa, but they would eventually lose touch due to distance and youth. He had great stories about his time in Germany and his front-row seat to the Russian side of the Space Race and their covert involvement in the Vietnam War.

Upon returning to civilian life back in America, Ron graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University with a B.A. degree and would later go into a master's program at Johns Hopkins University where he ended one credit short of earning his degree. Ron instead chose to pursue his career which started with Thomas Cook Travel in Baltimore as a travel agent where he quickly rose to the management ranks. He then transitioned into the credit card industry and went on to hold senior executive roles with American Express, Discover Card, Wells Fargo, and several more national financial services companies until he happily retired at the age of 57.

In 1973 he met Lillian (Lee) Baker through a blind date orchestrated by mutual friends and instantly fell in love. They married a year later in 1974 in Wilton, CT, and eventually had a son, Brett Costello, in 1981 in Denver, CO. Ron and Lee loved each other deeply but their marriage ended in divorce in 1987. However, they maintained a great relationship for the remainder of his life which they both prioritized as vitally important for their son Brett's wellbeing. While Brett primarily lived with his mom in Arizona, he and Ron would spend the summers together in California and later Illinois that culminated with road trips to places like the Baseball and Football Hall of Fame, Naval Academy, Niagara Falls, and Washington DC to name just a few of their adventures. During Brett's college years he and Ron expanded their travel radius and explored Europe along with Ron's brother Larry and his son Eric. In 1996 Ron decided to move to Arizona so that he could be closer to Brett during his high school years. This included serving on the "chain gang" for Brett's high school football games so that he had a front-row view of the action.

In 2005 Ron reconnected with Christa, his first love from Germany back in his Army days, and would end up marrying her and moving to a small town, Freyung, near where they had first met. He spent the last 15 years there making new friends and traveling. He would come to stay with Brett and his family every year for 3 months to escape the German winter and enjoy the holidays together.

By day, Ron loved to research the family genealogy of practically everyone he knew and would inundate them with emails on the latest 7th cousin removed that he had discovered they were related to. He also loved to research football games and place a wager on the winner...which he was more often wrong about than right! But come 5:00 o'clock every day, no matter where in the world he was, you could find Ron with a glass of wine in hand and a smile on his face as he engaged in his favorite activity...conversation and fellowship with his family, friends, and on many occasions with someone he just met.

Anyone who knew Ron Costello would agree that he cared about others, had genuine curiosity and interest in people's stories and opinions, was an eternal optimist even when facing terminal cancer and Covid, had thick skin when criticized, never held a grudge, always kept trying to mend relationships, never gossiped, rarely spoke negatively of people, loved his family and friends dearly, and was always the life of every party he was at. While his life was seemingly cut short by Covid, we are comforted in knowing that God has spared him from the often painful and demoralizing end stages of cancer and that he left this world winning against it with hope, dignity, and strength to the end. He will be deeply missed by his many friends and family whom he taught so many wonderful lessons to by the way he lived.

Ron often said to his son, "Make a difference today" ... And everyone would confirm that this is exactly what he did in someone else's life every day that he lived.

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