Greg Zanis—the carpenter who single-handedly built thousands of crosses for shooting victims across the country—died May 4, The Daily Herald reported.
Zanis, who had been diagnosed with bladder cancer, lived long enough to see hundreds of people drive by his home in a long procession May 1—a “living visitation” held by his family to give Zanis some peace and comfort in his final days.
Zanis started making those crosses in 1996—the same year his father-in-law was shot and killed.
Windy City Times profiled Zanis in 2017, after he put up 49 crosses in Orlando, Florida—one for each of the victims of the Pulse Nightclub mass shooting. Zanis, who considers himself a straight ally, said he has friends who are a part of the LGBT community—and what happened in Orlando was heartbreaking to him.
The Daily Herald item is at http://www.dailyherald.com/news/20200504/a-man-of-faith-auroras-cross-man-dies-from-cancer-?utm_source=pushly.