Greg Zanis, who delivered crosses to honor mass shooting victims in the US, dies at 69
Greg Zanis, an Illinois man who spent over 20 years making and delivering crosses to honor victims of mass shootings in the U.S., died Monday after battling with bladder cancer, his daughter revealed on social media.
"R.I.P. Dad," Susie Zanis wrote on Facebook, according to NBC Chicago. "I know you were ready to go but we weren't ready to lose you."
Supporters dropped by Zanis' home Friday to greet him at a distance, holding posters that read: "You're our hero Greg!"
The 69-year-old founded Crosses for Losses to honor his father-in-law who was fatally shot in 1996. "It really helped me with my grieving process," Zanis said in 1999.
Since then, he has made over 26,000 crosses and set them up in cities across the nation where there have been mass shootings: Columbine, Newtown, San Bernardino, Pittsburgh, Parkland, Las Vegas, Thousand Oaks, Dayton, El Paso.
In February 2019, Zanis added his hometown Aurora, Chicago to the list after a former factory employee killed five co-workers and injured six other people, including one worker and five policemen. Officers killed the gunman after a 90-minute shoot-out.
"I didn't expect the battlefield to be in my own city," Zanis told USA TODAY in February at the one-year anniversary where flags flew at half-staff and the city observed a moment of silence.
In December 2019, Zanis announced he was retiring from his organization. He said the work took a personal and financial toll on him.
“I had a breaking point in El Paso,” Zanis said, referring to the mass shooting outside of a Walmart in that Texas city. “I hadn’t slept for two days, it was 106 degrees and I collapsed from the pressure when I heard there were two more victims of the mass shooting.”
But Zanis' legacy will go on.
On Aurora's Facebook page, Mayor Richard Irvin said Zanis will forever be remembered. "He was a man of action who simply wanted to honor the lives of others. In return, his life was one of honor and one that was celebrated throughout our nation and world."
Contributing: Grace Hauck, USA TODAY; Associated Press
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Greg Zanis, who built crosses to honor mass shooting victims, dies
