Stanley Stein was born Sidney Maurice Levyson in 1899 in the USA. He was a leprosy patient at Carville from 1931 until his death in 1967. On entering Carville he changed his name, not an uncommon practice for those diagnosed with leprosy the time. He established the newspaper The Star in 1941, four years after he became completely blind. This publication, which focused on issues related to leprosy and featured mainly articles written by patients, enabled him to accomplish much for people affected by leprosy. Digitised copies of The Star can be accessed here.
Stein fearlessly fought for the acceptance by the community of a person with leprosy and for enlightened understanding of leprosy and its sufferers. He was the first recipient of the Damien-Dutton Award in 1953. He published an autobiography, Alone No Longer, in 1963.
Adapted from International Journal of Leprosy, Centennial Festskrift edition, Vol 41, No 2, 1973.
See also: J R Trautman, ‘Stanley Stein, 1899-1967’, Int J Lepr Other Mycobact Dis. 36.2 (1968): 234-5.
Entry updated January 2016
Alone No Longer: The Story of a Man who Refused to be One of the Living Dead!. By Stanley Stein with Lawrence G Blochman. Foreword by Perry Burgess. Carville, La.; The Star, 1974, c1963.