War veteran keeps giving

By Adrian Walker, Globe Columnist, 8/28/2003

The first surprising thing about Stephen Zardis is that he had enough money socked away to give anyone $1 million.

But the bigger surprise about the severely handicapped Vietnam veteran is his seemingly unbridled gift for gratitude, in circumstances that would embitter almost anyone else.

Zardis, 55, is legally blind and a quadriplegic. He has lived at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Brockton for nearly four years, in a room decorated with several of his original paintings and a poster of a sunlit silver Porsche Boxster. His health is, on the best of days, iffy. Yet when he says he is grateful for every day, you believe it. And he is a man who believes in sharing his blessings. So much so that, one year after donating $30,000 to his alma mater, Cathedral High School in the South End, he stunned school officials this spring with a gift of $1 million for needy students, the largest in the school's history."I've learned -- unfortunately, through my own medical history -- that I can't take it with me," said Zardis, who at times struggles for breath. "So I wanted to do something with it, and something that would have a meaning and a purpose. And one day I was just lying here before getting up and it was quiet, and I was thinking, and I just thought, `Why not give it to the high school? They can certainly utilize it, and it would be to the betterment of many people.' "

Zardis gently deflects questions about the nature of his disability, but in fact it has been reported many times over the years. During his tour in Vietnam, he was exposed to huge doses of the toxic exfoliant Agent Orange. Though its manufacturers denied its ill effects for years, Zardis was one of a large group of veterans who won a settlement from the companies in 1984.

Over the years, Zardis said, his personal savings has grown into a small fortune. Last April, he put $1 million into an annuity at Fidelity. Interest from it will fund about $40,000 annually in scholarships, according to Cathedral High School officials.

The students who will benefit from it attend a substantially different Cathedral from the one he graduated from in 1965. Like many parochial schools, Cathedral's student body is only about 50 percent Catholic. It is 91 percent minority, and attracts a substantial number of students from public housing, including nearby Cathedral, Villa Victoria, and Orchard Park projects.

Zardis is well aware of the changes -- in fact, they are part of his motivation. "It's a great physical plant and the students are motivated, they want to be there and receive a good education," he said.

Zardis was inspired, in part, by a segment on the school that aired on WCVB's "Chronicle" last year. And he was motivated by something else. The gift is in memory of two of his cousins. One was killed in Vietnam, while the other lost her life aboard United Airlines Flight 175, which was flown into the World Trade Center.

Zardis built a specially equipped home in Marblehead in the late 1970s, but was forced to give it up in 1999, when a doctor told him he was no longer capable of living alone. Still he says, "I've had a good life. Even now it's a good life. This is an incredible place. The doctors and nurses have saved by life more times than I have fingers on my hand."

He says there is no guessing how long he will live, though he has a sense that his myriad medical ills are gaining on him. Still, there is one idea that seems to keep him going.

"I joke that one day a nurse or doctor is going to come up to me and say: `I finished high school with your help and I went on to medical school or nursing school, and here I am.' And it's going to happen. It's not going to happen to me specifically, but it's going to happen."

Adrian Walker is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at walker@globe.com.