Greg Zanis, carpenter who built crosses for mass shooting victims, dies at 69

Few knew him by name, but many saw his signature handiwork on the side of the road or in media images from scenes of tragedy—squat, white wooden crosses with the names of gun victims scrawled in black ink.

Greg Zanis estimated he made more than 26,000 such memorials, iconic testaments to the nation’s mass shootings.

Zanis died May 4 of bladder cancer, said his daughter, Susie Zanis, whose GoFundMe account, initially set up to support his work and his medical expenses, is now being devoted to his funeral. He was 69.