She built an online community while battling cancer. Now her parents are echoing her spirit by supporting tomorrow’s storytellers.

Sherwood and Marlene Zellermayer of Evanston, Illinois, establish scholarship fund at the William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications in honor of their late daughter and KU graduate, Jessica. 

One of the many things that remind Sherwood Zellermayer of his daughter, Jessica, is a wooden placard he bought her years ago that now sits in his room next to her photo. Painted in white, the sign reads, “think deeply, speak gently, love much, laugh a lot, work hard, give freely, be kind.”

“This is exactly my daughter,” he said.

Jessica Zellermayer graduated from KU in 1999 with a degree in broadcast journalism and went on to work in newsrooms and production studios across the country. She documented moments from her award-winning career and her life, including her diagnosis with breast cancer, on her blog, creating a community that mourned when she passed away in 2023. That community, led by her parents, is now working to carry on her legacy through the creation of a scholarship fund in her name at the William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications.

Jessica had always been a fighter, her mother, Marlene Zellermayer, recalls. Born six weeks early and just under 3 pounds, Jessica measured at the bottom of every growth chart her first few years of life. But even then, she showed she should not be underestimated, time and time again.

“Jessica proved that low expectations were not meant for her,” Marlene said. “She worked hard and did well. She met her goals and made us so very proud of her!”

Hailing from Chicago, Jessica knew she wanted to study journalism in college and had it narrowed down to four schools before she visited Lawrence and knew she was meant to be at KU.

“It didn’t take very long for her to fall in love with that school, the community and the environment,” Sherwood said.

That love translated into the kind of passion and commitment to her work that would cause envy in many with decades-long careers. A February 1999 issue of Jayhawk Journalist details Jessica’s habit of arriving at 5:45 a.m. at KJHK, KU’s award-winning student-run radio station,  where she worked as the news director on top of taking 18 credit hours. She spent winter break her junior year assembling and mailing resume packets that resulted in securing an internship that summer in Good Morning America’s research department. Later in her career, Jessica would be back at the broadcaster and would work for 8 years as a producer for ABC News.

After graduation, Jessica’s career took her to Green Bay, Wisconsin, and then back to Chicago. When she wasn’t working as a news producer, she started her blog, The World According to Jaz, where she documented her move to NYC, her love of musical theater (especially the show “Kinky Boots”) and, eventually, her diagnosis and subsequent battle with cancer.

“Writing was a key to her existence,” Sherwood said. “Many times in the context of those blogs, she’ll refer to family and friends, and those groups of people are the people who really got her through.”

Jessica documented her experience through surgery, chemo and radiation, and then, five years after receiving a clean bill of health, a second cancer diagnosis. She built a digital community that included friends who had seen her strength first-hand and strangers who could feel her optimism through her words. The last four entries on her blog all end similarly — Jessica urging her readers to keep going, hang in there and know that she was sending them love and light through it all.

Even while going through treatment, Jessica held onto her warmth for others. Once, Jessica wrote a thank you note to a hospital maintenance worker who had brought her a blanket while she and Sherwood were waiting for Marlene to come out of heart surgery. The next day, the worker gave her a hug, told her they never had gotten something like that and would keep her note for the rest of their life. Sherwood recalls receiving a note from Jessica’s oncologist after she passed that said they had never seen a young person as upbeat as Jessica had been during treatment, even considering what she was going through.

“She always was an incredibly positive person,” Sherwood said. “Her thing was never to look down.”

The Zellermayers hope to carry on Jessica’s legacy through the establishment of a scholarship in her name that will support future Jayhawk journalists and help them experience the satisfaction, joy, pride and success that Jessica found through journalism, Marlene says.

“Cancer took her from us way too soon, but she faced her illness with strength and courage,” said Marlene. “She continued working, not letting chemotherapy and its effects stop her, as long as she could. Our beloved Jessica died just after her 47th birthday, on Valentine’s Day. But her life, and her strength and courage, is something to remember and celebrate.”

If you’re interested in learning more about or contributing to the Jessica Zellermayer scholarship fund, please contact Marlys Shulda, Development Director for the William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications.