Happy Birthday Dad! I am celebrating you today, as I do always. I will go on one of our walks together and enjoy a coffee and chocolate croissant for both of us. I love you. I miss you every day. Thank you for all the beautiful memories you have given me, which give me joy, comfort and a good laugh, even without you here. These are eternal gifts:)
Love, Fanie

Thinking of you Dad-perhaps this is one of the many ways I feel I can connect with you.
I think I was a little too young to remember this but I DO remember when you and Mom took us all hiking on the local mountains and I ate too many blueberries, and perhaps wandered....and you would carry me on your shoulders, like this photo! I remember grabbing your hair in fear that I would fall as you were so tall-I probably took out a few chunks lol. 
I miss you.

Thanassis and I were residents together and friends at UBC in the 1970's.  I last saw him on a visit to Vancouver in 2004, while he was Chairman of the Psychiatry Department.  He was a wonderful man and an outstanding psychiatrist.  He will be very much missed.

I only just found out that Thanasis left this early plane last fall.    I have wonderful and special memories working with him on a research study in the mood disorder clinic, back in the middle 90's.  He was a gentleman and a gentle man, sensitive, kind and warm with a huge heart.   We loved talking about gardens, music, travel and our families and he was a wonderful story teller as well as a willing listener.   He told me he loved the early mornings of spring, when he would walk around his garden to watch for the new signs of life - buds bursting, birds singing.  Thank you Thanasis for your presence in my life.  My heart is weeping.
Ann Moore (O'Brien)

Thanasis and I were friends in Greece, from being in the same class of the Medical School for six years. He and I shared the same highest grade in the class and graduated with "Arista" in 1969. Much to my pleasant surprise, when serving in the Greek Army for a year, Thanasis was transferred to the same MASH medical unit in Langada, Macedonia, where I was also serving. We spent several months together, and I always enjoyed his great sense of humor, and the erudite discussions we shared. We both had a lot to talk about politics, since Greece at the time was under military dictatorship, which we both despised. Though we have not been in contact after that, I very often thought of him as the partner I wish I had closer!

My deepest condolences to Katerina, whom I also knew from Medical School. I will dearly miss him!

George Michalopoulos
Professor and Chairman
Dept. of Pathology
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

I always thought of Thanasis as a force in the department. He had a sparkle about him -- intelligent, curious, and showed joy in science and life. A provocative thinker, he liked to share ideas and opinions outside the mainstream. He was also warm, thoughtful and truly interested in advancing the good of the community. He will be greatly missed. My deepest sympathy for Katerina and the family.

Thanasis and I enjoyed a great friendship since we first met during his fellowship  with Pat and Eddie Mc Geer in the 1970s. Our friendship was renewed in earnest when he and Katarina returned to UBC.  In recent years ever since joineingthe Department of Psychiatry in 2000, we enjoyed a special relationship throughout his two successful terms as Head of Psychiatry.
He was a very unique man of principles and bold ideas and was not afraid to stand up for issues that mattered to him, no  matter the opposition. 
This is the mark of a true leader and is a defining feature of his professional and person life. 


I had the honour of working with Thanasis in Dept of Psychiatry. He was an exemplar of moral and ethical leadership and displayed a hunger for knowledge and learning that made him an outstanding leader in our field. He always displayed a good sense of humour with a keen eye on politics, philosophy and a general love of life that made him a pleasure to be around. He will be missed.


I had the pleasure and honor of working with Dr. Zis, first when he was a resident at UBC and then as a colleague at the Health Science Center Hopital.   He was an intelligent,  empathetic, and principled individual who often worked for the underdog .  It was a pleasure to work with him.

It is with sadness to hear of the loss of a wonderful mentor, passionate colleague, and gentleman.

It was a privilege and pleasure to work with and learn from Thanasis for about a decade in the Neurostimulation Program at UBC until his retirement. As with others, those hours of spirited discussions over matters of the career, politics, passions and life will be ever cherished. 

My condolences to the family.
Joseph Tham

Dr. Katerina Zis
I am very sorry to hear Dr.zis had left us. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.
Please accept my deepest condolences. Henry

Thanasis had a tremendous impact in my life by providing critical support for me to move to Vancouver to join the Department of Psychiatry so many years ago.  Erika and I were very grateful for how welcome Thanasis and Katerina made us feel after our move.  I have great memories of talking with Thanasis about everything and anything.  He was wise and warm. 

My dearest Thanasi,

Farewell. I loved you and always admired you very much. Give my best to the three women that loved us and that we loved. Our mother, nona, and Vassilo.

Until we meet again.

Your brother,
Vassilis

-----

Αγαπημένε μου Θανάση,

Καλό σου ταξίδι. Σε αγαπούσα και σε θαύμαζα πάντα πολύ. Χαιρετίσματα στις τρείς γυναίκες που μας αγάπησαν και αγαπούσαμε.  Τη μάνα μας, τη νόνα, και τη Βασίλω.

Καλό αντάμωμα, ο αδερφός σου,
Βασίλης

I am very sad to hear that one of my mentors and advisors has left us.
My sincere feelings of sympathy with his family. 

Katarina, 
Please receive my most sincere condolences. I have spent hours sitting in the cafeteria of UBC  Hospital with him and re-drawind the maps of the world, of Canada, of the University and of a number of departments!
Big hug!
Joel Oger

Very sad to hear the news about Thanasis; have been thinking about the wonderful times I got to spend with him.  Many hours spent over coffee usually talking politics, at the departmental, university, civic, provincial, national and international levels - Thanasis always had an opinion to share, usually with a clever joke too.  In all he did he always endeavoured to advance the common good.  He and Katerina both had profound but very distinct influences on my academic career, and I thank them both for their inspiration.  I also had the pleasure of knowing Ody during his time in our division, and I will be thinking of  him and Katerina especially  at this time.

Dr Zis' kindness and caring to others will always be remembered and appreciated. When I chose to accept the Post Doc fellowship offer by the University of Rockefeller in 1994, Dr Zis expressed his concern for my safety living in New York city.  I also remembered these precious moments when I had the opportunity to discuss many life issues with Dr. Zis. Throughout these conversations, Dr Zis always demonstrated his concerns for human well being as a whole. Please Rest in Peace Dr Zis.  Hanh

It is with profound sadness that Garth and Fay Warnock  observe the passing of Thanasis and , we offer our thoughts of solace to Katrina and their children . Thanasis was an inspirational leader in UBC  Psychiatry and a gifted clinician and investigator whose skills improved the quality of life for many  .  His shrewd command of these skills was an  example of excellence for all of us to emulate as we led departments in the UBC Faculty of Medicine . He was academically generous , always striving for  better outcomes in the academy and clinical care . Fay and I had the great fortune to be next door neighbors to Thanasis for 20 years . The many backyard conversations we had over the fence revealed to  us the wealth of  talents that he had in philosophy , gardening and scholarship in life . The world is a better place because of Thanasis' many contributions . We will miss him , but take comfort that he left so many enduring advances . Thank you Thanasis from the two of us as UBC Emeritus Faculty .

I met Thanasis when I moved from internal medicine to psychiatry.  Thanasis visited me in my office from time to time.  He made me feel welcome and was curious about my work with LORETA brain imaging.  I particularly remember the look on his face when he experienced a combination of joy and curiosity
Thanasis was a gentleman - even when he had the weighty responsibility of being head. . 

Sotiris Youroukos, MD
September 6, 2021

The sad news of the death of Thanasis Zis has been a shock to all of his friends in Greece. We were both born on the island of Corfu in 1945 and he was my best friend from our early years. He was an outstanding student at all school levels, as well as  in the Athens University Medical School.  Thanasis was a gifted person with very high intelligence, sensitive and very committed to social issues.
His interests were wide: music, literature, photography, art, and gardening among others. When he moved to Vancouver in 1971, there was still  dictatorship in Greece. In Canada he found a friendly, open and democratic   society.  He loved Canada, the country that gave  him the opportunities for a very successful carreer as a psychiatrist. 
He was very lucky to have Katerina by his side for 50 years. She supported him greatly in all phases of his life. They had a nice family and he was very proud of his children and grandchildren.
We will all miss him as a friend and as a person with brilliant mind.


I am so sorry to hear of the loss of Thanasis. It was a great honour to have worked with him on an opera production called Dreamhealer and the symposium on Mental Health and Wellness to accompany this opera centred around the life of Carl Jung. This project brought two loves of his together - Music and Psychiatry. That project allowed me to get to know Thanasis and his wonderful wife Katerina. We became mutual fans and friends and enjoyed many more operas together.
He was a wonderful man and an incredible professor and doctor.
We will all miss him.

I will never forget the first time I met Thanasis and Katerina in Vancouver in the early 1970s. They were both working on their medical specialties at UBC and they asked my parents and me for dinner and were superbly warm and gracious hosts. I was studying classical  music and was amazed by Thanasis's informed interest in music history and theory.  

Decades later, Thanasis was still a gracious host. I stayed in the garden suite of his lovely home for two weeks while undergoing radiation treatments at VGH for ovarian cancer. He was very kind and generous and made me feel welcome. He was also good to my parents when they were terminally ill. 

Crissa sends a heartfelt sympathy hug to Katerina and the whole family.

I am saddened to hear of the passing of Dr Zis. I feel privileged to have worked with this very special man for  10 years at UBC.
My heartfelt condolences to his family.
Peggi Diebel

OBITUARY

Athanasios Panayotis Zis

13 June, 1945 – 1 September, 2021

Mount Pleasant Universal Funeral Home

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