In 1988, he was awarded the Donald Reid Medal given by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine for his contributions to epidemiology.
After his retirement from active teaching, he continued his research with his wife Rose until her death in 1998; in his later years he divided his time between Manhattan, Long Island, Chicago, and Pioppi in Southern Italy.
[4] During the 1970s and 1980s his group took part in observational epidemiologic studies and in multi-center clinical trials of interventions to prevent coronary heart disease.
Other significant honors include a Gold Heart Award from the Chicago Affiliate of the American Heart Association; the Donald Reid Medal from the Joint Committee of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the Royal College of Physicians; the National Cholesterol Award at the First National Cholesterol Conference; the James D. Bruce Memorial Award for Distinguished Contributions in Preventive Medicine from the American College of Physicians.
[4] In 1965, Stamler, a longtime supporter of the civil rights movement for African-Americans, was subpoenaed to testify before the House Committee on Un-American Activities (popularly known as HUAC).
In response, he filed a suit (joined by co-worker Yolanda Hall, who had also been subpoenaed) seeking to have the committee's Congressional mandate declared unconstitutional, as it would tend to exert a "chilling effect" on the exercise of civil liberties.
According to John C. Tucker, "many people believe the Stamler case and a statistical survey prepared for it by University of Chicago law professor Hans Zeisel was the primary reason HUAC was finally disbanded by Congress".