Doctor Richard Winston Mazakis

Dr. Richard Winston Mazakis, 78, passed away on October 11, 2020 in Fort Wayne, Ind. He was born on January 1, 1942 in Haifa, Palestine. He grew up in Beirut, Lebanon, where he earned his BA in Political Science from the American University of Beirut and studied law at the French St. Joseph University and the Lebanese University in Beirut. He earned a law degree from LaSalle Extension University, Chicago, an MA from Indiana University and a Doctor of Religious Education from Bethany Theological Seminary. Dr. Mazakis came to America because he was offered a position as an interpreter in the General Assembly in the Security Council of the United Nations in New York City. Instead of starting as an interpreter, however, he founded the Middle East Mission, Inc. and began a ministry that lasted 50 years and took him to over 50 countries and 48 states. For almost 20 years, he lived in the Chicago area, where he pastored two churches—Northside Calvary Baptist Church and the Chicago Arabic Baptist Church. In his youth in Beirut, he was a high school teacher of history and math and a tour guide; he was president of Gideon’s International and Youth for Christ. During this time, he wrote a song in Arabic about meeting his Savior that is still sung in Arabic-speaking churches in Arab countries and in the United States today. He was an amazing cook of Arab food and opened a restaurant with Mediterranean cuisine called The Pita Deli in Fort Wayne, Ind. in the 1980s. He wrote four books on Christian theology, apologetics, and eschatology, and he took several groups to visit the Holy Land. He was preceded in death by his father, Jamil Joseph Mazakis, his mother Kalma Baconi Mazakis, his brothers Joe Mazakis, Henri Mazakis, Octave Mazakis and sister Teresa Mazakis Abla. He is survived by his wife of 50 years, Jean Elizabeth (Snyder) Mazakis and his four children whom he loved fiercely—Ric (Jane) Mazakis, Rob (Yody Hernandez) Mazakis, Angie Mazakis, and Liz Mazakis and a brother, David Mazakis and many relatives and friends who loved him for his big heart, his enormous empathy, his surprising humor, and laughter that outlasted everyone else’s.