Passed away peacefully at home on Sunday, April 14, 2013 surrounded by his family due to Alzheimer's disease.
Beloved husband of Aliki, married 57 years.
Beloved Father of Angela Litsa, and son in law, Yani Yorgiadis. Beloved father of Eleni Helen and fiance Yianni Petropoulos.
Beloved grandfather and godfather to Aliki and Nick Miliotis and Nikki Yorgiadis. Beloved grandfather to Christin and Ryan Thomas Spencer.
Family and friends are invited to visit the Jerrett Funeral Home, 660 Kennedy Road, Scarborough, Tuesday, April 16, 2013 from 5-9 pm. Funeral service to be held Wednesday, April 17, 2013 at 11:00 a.m., St. John's Greek Orthodox Church, Scarborough, Ontario.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Alzheimer's Society of Ontario.
Tomas Nikolaidis - Biography
Born: January 24, 1929, Istanbul, Turkey
Mother: Zoe
Father: Anastasis
Older brother: Iraklis
Sister: Thomai (died at age 18 from tuberculosis) and he was named after her
Orphaned by his father at age 9
Lived at Beshikdash, near Dolmabache Palace on the Bosporos
Worked part-time to approximately the age of 14 at “LeBon”, a French pastry shop in Istanbul where he was a delivery boy. He learned French while working at the patiserrie.
Spoke: English, Turkish, Albanian, Greek and French
Tomas went to the Turkish army in the infantry division. He was stationed in Antalya and Adana and like most Greeks in the Turkish army, he was given higher order duties because Greeks were educated and could read and write.
Tomas became a lathe technician and opened a successful tool and die shop with his brother upon return from the army.
Istanbul riots September 6-7, 1955: Tomas’s store not affected by the riots, likely because they employed 20 Turks. However, Tomas’s infantry were assembled into standby mode after the riots, in preparation for retaliation from Greece. The Christians were separated from the rest of the soldiers during this time. Aliki was engaged when this happened.
Tomas made a decision after the riots that he did not want to stay in Istanbul, although his business was excelling.
January 22, 1956: married Aliki Nikolaidis (yes, same last name as his) at age 26. He wanted a family right away. Aliki was pregnant with Litsa 3 months after their wedding.
December 5, 1956: First born daughter, Evangelia
January 17, 1964: Second daughter, Eleni (named after his beloved mother-in-law). Tomas convinced Aliki to have one more child. Aliki and Tomas lived the high life, out almost every night of the week to movies and theatre and social events.
January 1966: immigrated to Montreal Quebec where he was immediately employed as a technician, lathe operator.
1967 – 1968 – returned to Athens, Greece and opened a restaurant in Omonia where the after theatre crowds came to enjoy Istanbul ‘mezethes’. The restaurant was extremely successful with actors like Aliki Vouyouklaki attending frequently, but he was not granted a licence to operate because of his Turkish passport.
1969 and onwards: moved to Toronto, Ontario. Employed at Staticon, one of the biggest suppliers of transformers to the province of Ontario. Became a supervisor and retired at the age of 60.
July 12, 1984 – granddaughter Aliki born. He loved watching Matlock with Aliki and this influenced Aliki as she went on to become a criminal lawyer.
March 18, 1991 – granddaughter Nikki born. He was an excellent ballroom dancer and Nikki went on to make it to the Olympics, representing Greece for ice dance. He was there to watch Nikki accept the Olympic torch in Athens, at the beginning of the winter Olympics in Vancouver.
April 10, 1994 – Granddaughter Christin was born. Christin was born on her grandmother and grandfather’s date of engagement, 39 years later. Christin loves to entertain people, just like her grandfather. She was in all the plays in high school and she sings and composes music.
November 14 1997 – Grandson, Ryan Thomas Nikolaidis Spencer was born. Ryan Thomas has taken after his grandfather by being an entertainer and winning the drama and dance award in grade 8.
2006 – Diagnosed with Alzheimer’s
March 2009 – attended World’s Figure Skating Championship to watch Nikki at the Staples Centre, Los Angeles, California
October 2009 – attended the Olympic stadium in Athens, Greece to watch Nikki accept the Olympic Torch
He remembered to blow kisses and communicated with eye movements and smiles to the end.
Other facts:
Favourite food: potatoes: cooked any way
Favourite dance: waltz, mambo, samba
Favourite pastime: travelling – south of France, travelled throughout Europe, Caribbean, Hawaii; visited Cuba 14 times.
Favourite island: loved staying in Proti or Kinali, the first of the Princess Islands in the sea of Marmara off the coast of Istanbul. He had an aluminum boat where he loved to fish with his brother, swim in the sea, play soccer and spend time with family.
Interesting fact: Tomas loved to dress sharply and shopped for both his wife and daughters. He owned 21 custom tailored suits when he got married.
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