ticklethewire.com
A former secret service agent who was shot protecting presidential candidate George Wallace in May 1972 has died.
Nicholas J. Zarvos was 79. He died Wednesday after a fight with leukemia, the Kansas City Star reports.
“That came as such a shock to all of us, because he had always been such a strong and able-bodied person,” said his wife, Rose Zarvos of Katy, Texas, near Houston.
Zarvos was assigned to Wallace when a gunman opened fire at a shopping in Laurel, Maryland, leaving the presidential candidate paralyzed from the waste down.
Zarvos was struck in the jaw and underwent more than seven hours of surgery before returning to work later that year.
Zarvos grew up in Kansas City, served two years in the Army and attended the University of Denver.
