Zeb Devine (“Thadius”) was born and raised on Martha’s Vineyard, a member of the Wampanoag tribe. He was a talented welder, trained in underwater applications. The true measure of a man, however, is not in what he did for a living or where he went to school, but in the lives he touched … and he touched so many.
New Orleans became his home in 2009, and the city seemed to match his spirit — vibrant, artistic, magical, coming to life at night, and unapologetically true to itself. Here he met countless kindred spirits, one of those being Sara Fiorenzo, with whom he forged a special bond as partner and mother of his sons, Lucian and Caius.
He also leaves a city of friends who remember him as “an artist with a soul bigger than the sea,” someone who “encouraged every person [he] met to be more than ever before.” Someone whose “confidence was unmatchable, yet … always humble and kind,” “the most gentle soul and the strongest protector,” and “one of the smartest, kindest, most genuine humans to walk this earth. Hear him tell it, he wasn’t human. I guess that’s why he brightened every room he entered, I guess that’s why he impacted so many lives; I guess that’s why he’s legendary.”
His cousin, Marah Bradley, summed him up best: “I always felt lucky to be related to you — you invented your own flavor, pissed on conformity, had charisma for days, spread joy wherever you went, and befriended everyone you met. You were a badass, mischievous, inventive wonder seeker, and I couldn’t be more proud to have been a part of your life. We lost a treasure of a soul in you, and we are left wrecked without you.”
He leaves his partner, Sara Fiorenzo, and their sons, Lucian and Caius; his sister and friend, Julie Devine of Washington, D.C.; his sister Andrea Eckhoff and his mother, Patricia Ray, both of Tucson, Ariz.; and countless others from Martha’s Vineyard to Los Angeles. He was predeceased by his father, Ralph (“Syd”) Devine.
To Thadius: Rest easy knowing you did as much as humanly possible to make this world brighter for the rest of us. You proved you were alive every moment you were with us. You will be sorely missed, you shooting star.
