Dating back more than half a century to his days as a young attorney, Connecticut-born and bred consumer advocate Ralph Nader has dedicated his life’s work to finding courage and justice in the face of adversity.

That experience hit home this year when his grandniece, Samya Stumo, was among the 157 victims lost in the Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crash on March 10. The tragedy has returned Nader to the international spotlight, as he has willingly taken on a fight with Boeing, the manufacturer of the controversial 737 Max airplane, a new model that had suffered a crash just five months earlier in Indonesia, killing all 189 people on board.