Stephen Zisson, war hero, was longtime Salem housing official

STEPHEN ZISSON

The phone rang at night and on weekends as callers in Salem turned to Stephen Zisson for help with one of their most basic needs.

A son of immigrants and a child of the Depression, Mr. Zisson brought compassion honed by personal experience to his work as a member of the Salem Housing Authority for more than 50 years, and as chairman for more than half his tenure.

"He always had a soft spot for people who were in need, and I think that came from growing up with people who never had a lot of everything," said his son James of Salem, who now serves on the Housing Authority.

Mr. Zisson, whose heroics and sacrifice during World War II earned him both the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart, died Aug. 13 in Grosvenor Park Nursing Center in Salem. He was 83 and had been suffering from lung cancer, though he had never smoked, his son said.

Born in Marlborough, Mr. Zisson grew up in Salem, the youngest of three children. His parents had emigrated from northern Greece, and money was scarce during his childhood in the late 1920s and 1930s.

"He was very appreciative of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the New Deal," his son said. "He saw his relatives getting a break, and forever after that he was a Democrat."

Decades later, even when his circle of friends included some who were more conservative politically, Mr. Zisson often noted that he had never voted Republican.

After graduating from Salem High School in 1942, he was chosen for the Army Specialized Training Program, which plucked the academically talented from the ranks. Other skills, however, led to an assignment in the 104th Infantry Division, which was known as the Timberwolves and led by Major General Terry Allen.

Mr. Zisson was a platoon sergeant and in later years didn't mention all of the fighting he saw during World War II. But a citation stashed in his bedroom closet, which one of his sons found, described actions that led to his medals.

The citation, signed by Allen, narrated the events of Nov. 17, 1944, and said in part:

"In the face of enemy shellfire and already wounded, Sergeant Zisson gave first aid to three of his men and returned them to the medical aid station. Out of great devotion to his duty and disregarding his wound, he returned his able men through heavy shellfire and continued to fight until he was wounded again. He then gave first aid to three more of his men and again evacuated them through continued heavy artillery fire."

Though Mr. Zisson was injured again later that month and hospitalized, he returned to the 104th a few months later and participated in the liberation of some Nazi slave labor camps, his family said.

When the war was over, he returned to Salem and was admitted to Harvard College, an academic leap for someone whose parents' education ended with grade school.

"I once asked him what possessed him to apply to Harvard," his son said, "and he answered, 'Someone said I should apply and I did and I got in."

Graduating in 1948 after studying physical sciences, he got a job with Liberty Mutual Insurance in Boston and worked for 40 years in the loss prevention department. Mr. Zisson took his work home with him, too - as least in his attention to safety.

He emphasized that his children should know the sure path to exits in everything from movie theaters to airplanes. And despite his war experience, or perhaps because of it, he had no use for weapons in his house.

In 1956, Mr. Zisson married Joan Dooley, who died in 2001, and their devotion became one of the three constants in his life, as he wrote succinctly in the 45th anniversary report of his Harvard class: "Still married to the same wonderful, beautiful woman. Still a Democrat. Still chairman of the Salem Housing Authority."

The one pastime to rival those three passions was cheering for the Celtics. A longtime holder of season tickets, he watched all 17 of the team's championships - many of them in person.

The hours at the Garden, however, didn't detract from the decades he spent cultivating affordable housing in Salem as he and the Housing Authority helped provide houses for veterans, the elderly, and the disabled, among others.

When Mr. Zisson took calls about housing needs when he was home at night, "I would listen to him and you could tell how grateful the person on the other end was," said his other son, Stephen of Wenham.

"You knew he believed in that type of public service."

"It was his avocation," James Zisson said. "He said it just gave him a good feeling to help out."

In addition to his two sons, Mr. Zisson leaves a daughter, Paula Connor of Easton; a sister, Eugenia of Salem; two granddaughters; and two grandsons.

A funeral Mass will be said at 9 a.m. today in Saint Anne Church in Salem. Burial will be in Greenlawn Cemetery in Salem.