Hannah Weiss was studying theology and participating in a joint undergraduate degree program at List College and Columbia University.
Costa Rican plane crash victim Hannah Weiss was a 19-year-old college student who dedicated her life to bettering the world, her dean told the Daily News Monday.
Weiss was studying theology and participating in a joint undergraduate degree program at List College and Columbia University.
“She was a special person,” said List College dean Shuly Rubin Schwartz. “She was driven by a real sense of social justice.”
As a sophomore, Weiss, from Belleair, Fla., had already emerged as a student leader and an ardent environmental activist, Schwartz said.
Plane did ‘cartwheel’ before deadly Costa Rica crash: witness
“She had a big smile and was really passionate about tikun olam (repairing the world),” Schwartz added.
Weiss died along with her parents, Mitchell, 52, Leslie, 50, and younger brother, Ari, 16, in the plane crash Sunday afternoon in the Central American country.
“It’s a terrible loss for their family, for our congregation, for our synagogue family and for the Pinellas County family,” said Rabbi Jacob Luski of Congregation B’nai Israel, where the family worshiped.
“They’ll be sorely missed. It’s a terrible tragedy.”
Ten Americans dead after plane crashes in Costa Rica
Costa Rican officials are probing the crash of the Nature Air charter plane that went down in the woods along the country’s Pacific Ocean coast.
The 10 American passengers on board and two crew members were killed, according to authorities.
The victims included Bruce Steinberg, 50, his wife, Irene, 51, and their sons Matthew, William and Zachary, all of Scarsdale in Westchester County.
They were all on vacation, family friends and neighbors said.
The pilot was identified as Juan Manuel Retana. The 10th victim has not been identified.
