Victor Horiatis was born, Nikiforos, Konstantinos, Horiatis, on April 5, 1944, in a refugee camp in 1944 in the Belgium Congo, now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, during the peak of WWII. Nikifors’s father was killed in Africa before he got the chance to meet him and was raised by his mother Lambrini and his two brothers Stavro and Nikola. He also had a third brother Stelio that died in Kusadasi, Turkey from dysentery during their escape from Nazi occupied Greece.
As a boy on the Greek island of Ikaria Victor dreamt of coming to the US. Which he did when he was 17 or 18 years old, given his special US immigration status as a war refugee of WWII. Here Nikiforo started washing dishes at a Greek owned diner for minimum wage. He started taking night school to perfect his English and took the anglicized version of his name Victor. After a few years Victor was promoted to an assistant cook. After a few more years he was the head chef at a Pasadena landmark called Gus’s BBQ on Fair Oaks Blvd, in Pasadena, CA.
After a few years he had saved enough money for a down payment on a house. He then met his wife Lambrini Poulos who came from the same village in Ikaria as him and was in Los Angeles visiting her sister. She was meant to go back to Greece after a few months but instead met Victor fell in love and the rest is history. Although they later divorced, they remained good friends and partners in raising their son Dimitris Horiatis.
After buying a house and getting married Victor did not want to stop there. His dream was to go to college and become a US citizen. Nikifiros did become a US citizen but never made it to college. Instead he did everything in his power to make sure his son did. Despite only having a 6th grade education Victor did well in America, he learned to speak perfect English, particularly good Spanish and became an excellent chef. At age 43 he decided to go to work for himself. He loved BBQ and opened a place of his own. He called it Victor’s BBQ in Tujunga California. A few years later he also bought the bar next door to his restaurant.
Victor loved nature and all animals and enjoyed the ocean. He was also a student of history and used it a as a guide to life, but also to accept change as a constant. Victor was a deeply religious man because he witnessed evil and knew that the only way to fight it was with the love in your hear and your belief in God. For that reason, he enjoyed chanting at Saint Anthony’s Church in Pasadena, CA and would take his family to church often.
Victor was diagnosed with Alzheimer dementia approximately seven years ago. Although he understood that he was slowly losing his ability to remember and function as an independent person he faced those challenges with the same optimism and determination that he did the rest of his life. Up until the very last few weeks of his life he kept his sense of humor and would smile as he did always when he would see his family. Especially when he saw his grandchild and name sake Nikiforo Horiatis. In his last few years, he did not say much as the disease had taken away his ability for conversations, but he still enjoyed spending time with his family and his dog Pancho. In the end, as much as his memory had faded, he never once forgot his son’s, his daughter in law’s or his grandson’s names. He was able to attend their wedding and witness the birth and baptism of their grandchild. Victor fell asleep in the Lord on March 21st 2020 in Stamford, CT and is survived by his son Dimitris, his daughter in law Hellen, his grandson Nikiforos, his brother Steve his ex-wife Lambrini and his nieces & nephews Dino, Andrew, Aristi, Tony and Michael. His friends and family will forever remember him as a man that never let his past determine his future or his current circumstances his ability to succeed.
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