Maureen Ryan, 55; Criticized Use of Agent Orange in Vietnam War

Maureen Ryan, 55, an outspoken critic of the U.S. government’s treatment of soldiers sprayed with the herbicide Agent Orange during the Vietnam War, died Sept. 8 of pancreatic cancer in Boca Raton, Fla.

Ryan and her husband, a Vietnam veteran, and their two children, who were both born with birth defects, came to symbolize the unhealed wounds of the Vietnam War when they became part of a class-action suit filed by veterans exposed to Agent Orange.

Ryan’s husband, Michael Ryan, spent 13 months in Vietnam in 1966-67 and was exposed to Agent Orange when the defoliant was sprayed around Long Binh.

Their daughter, Kerry, was born with 22 major deformities, including deformed fingers, a missing thumb, missing bones, a hole in her heart and no lower intestinal tract. Their son, Michael, was born with brain damage that the couple also blamed on Agent Orange.

A settlement of the class action suit for $180 million was approved by a federal judge in 1984 but provided only a small amount -- an average of $5,700 -- to veterans or their families.

The Ryans’ struggle to receive compensation for their children in the suit received national attention. They also wrote “Kerry: Agent Orange and an American Family.”