He was a forward observer: An Agent Orange victim and plaintiff

Stephen Zardis was born in Malden, Massachusetts, and attended Boston College for two years. Then he enlisted in the U.S. Army, and served in 1968-69 as a forward observer near Cambodia in an area saturated with Agent Orange, the chemical used to destroy the jungle plants that concealed the Viet Cong.

Several years after his honorable discharge, he was diagnosed with atypical multiple sclerosis. Other Vietnam vets told him of their strange and rare health problems. His research convinced him Agent Orange was to blame. He became the director of the Massachusetts chapter of Agent Orange Victims International, spreading the word about the origin of the veterans’ health problems, and helping ailing veterans find answers and restitution. He became the lead plaintiff in the class action lawsuit filed in Federal District Court in Boston in 1979. The class won a settlement in 1984.

His health continued to deteriorate, and he passed away on Thursday, at age 59.

"I've learned through my own medical history that I can’t take it with me. So I wanted to do something with it, something that would have a meaning and a purpose," he said in 2003, explaining why he had donated $1 million to his alma mater, Cathedral High School in Boston’s South End.

Advice to victims: Find other members of your class, and learn and advocate with them.

Read another of our patient advocate activist stories, or read Tom Long’s obituary on Stephen in Tuesday’s Boston Globe.