Jeff, age 38, (born July 3, 1981) died of brain cancer on Saturday, June 27, 2020, with his wife and parents by his side after a four week battle against a glioblastoma multiforme that Jeff boldly documented for all to see. 

In his youth, Jeff enjoyed rollerblading, art, building things, computers, and befriending foreign exchange students. He built the first website for Markesan District Schools and the computers and network at his parents’ store, where he also helped farmers with parts. After graduating from Markesan High School in 1998, Jeff participated in Rotary Youth Exchange in Bolivia, where he became fluent in Spanish and Portugese and translated for Doctors Without Borders. He cut his exchange short to backpack South America with friends - traversing the jungle, running from a car bomb and snorkeling the Amazon.

He returned to Wisconsin, attended UW-Madison and worked at Sonic Foundry and other software development firms in the area. He spent many days and nights having fun (sometimes too much) and playing pranks on his friends. They went on roadtrips to find fresh snow for skiing, as far as Utah and Colorado.

In Madison, Jeff met the love of his life, Julie (Rodenberg). Everyone agreed she was such a perfect match, he should have married her sooner. She helped focus his adventurous and driven spirit so they could maximize their enjoyment of life together. They joined the running club at Brocach and finished five marathons together. They worked on the ski patrol at Cascade Mountain, traveled to the ends of the world often on their bikes, and even survived the Christchurch Earthquake while living in New Zealand.

Jeff and Julie welcomed Emmett to the world while living in northern Australia, where they endured giant cockroaches, saltwater crocodiles and typhoon season as a family of three. They traveled to Myanmar, Bali, and Kuala Lumpur for adventure. Jeff was always carefully documenting the family's milestones, travel and daily life. 

They returned to Madison and settled on Keyes Avenue, hanging with neighbors and going on many family bike rides. It was here that they had the pleasure of welcoming Madeline into the family.  As a family of four, they invested in a bigger bike trailer. Together, they enjoyed playing legos for hours on end and continued documenting daily life (even putting a GoPro in the dishwasher). Jeff ran a successful web development and programming company on Capitol Square. 

The family of four moved to Ireland, and found new bike paths to ride. In Ireland, Jeff was deemed to have a high potential start-up and was accepted into the Irish Start-up Entrepreneur Visa Program, which allowed experienced business people with innovative business plans to gain Irish residence. He joined the Huckletree cowork space and enjoyed participating in Dublin’s tech community, while pursuing a venture to make honey authenticity certification cost effective and efficient for small honey producers across Europe. The family spent many days exploring Ireland’s seaside, castles and fairy gardens.

Jeff was always up for a race, run, ski jump, bike ride or a trip to someplace new, especially with his kids. He taught all who knew him to try the big jumps and to live adventurously. 

Jeff’s legacy will be his deep love for his wife and children, curiosity, passion for binge learning, kindness and openness. Son of Tom and Joan (Gottinger), big brother to Kristen (Mike) Wall and Rebecca. Also survived by nephews, aunts, uncles, cousins, foreign exchange family, and dear friends on six continents that will miss his pranks, tech advice, and smile. Preceded in death by grandparents, infant sister, cousin, and aunt. 

Private mass and burial. Celebration of life planned for summer 2021 after COVID, likely the last week of June or first week of July.

Should friends desire, memorials “In Memory of Jeff Ballweg” to Foundation for Dane County Parks, 5201 Fen Oak Drive #208, Madison, WI 53718 or his children’s 529 education accounts at ugift529.com using codes W1C-N1Y and T6A-24N or via check to “Edvest College Savings Fund”.

Thanks to UPMC-Presbyterian, UW Hospital B4/4 nurses, Drs. Punit & Nidhi Kumar, Markesan volunteer EMTs, and many others who helped fight Jeff’s tumor.