Friends and neighbors had rallied to aid Mrs. Welch-Gillis, who married her college sweetheart Noel Gillis last year despite being stricken with an advanced form of colon cancer. A benefit raffle this spring raised more than $58,000.
"Christine was a very special person who meant so much to all of us here at Boston College," said friend and fellow CSOM technology consultant Bob DeStefano, who organized the benefit. "She brought the campus together, that's for sure."