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Many people may know Scott Stantis from his career as a political cartoonist for The Birmingham News and the Chicago Tribune.

But what most people don’t know is that he lost his brother, Marc, to epilepsy in 1986 when Marc was just 31 years old. Marc was the third of four boys, with Stantis being the baby of the family.

“Marc had epilepsy and development issues, and that makes you a different kind of person having a sibling like that,” Stantis said. “I had just gotten a job at the Memphis Commercial-Appeal and had been there for about a month when I got a phone call from my older brother that Marc had died. He had a seizure in his sleep and asphyxiated himself.”

Marc rarely had the type of seizures where he would collapse and convulse. Sometimes they were the type where he would zone out and you could tell he wasn’t there.

Stantis’s wife Jeanine was pregnant with their first child at the time and gave him the middle name Marc so his name would live on.

Stantis said the death of his brother was shocking, and he has since dedicated himself to being involved in the Epilepsy Foundation. For several years, he provided children with epilepsy the opportunity to attend camp with his reprint checks from his cartoons. He currently serves on the Epilepsy Foundation Alabama’s advisory board.

https://hooversun.com/peopleplaces/metro-roundup-epilepsy-foundation-celebrates-50th-year/