Christos was born in 1948 in Ioannina, Greece. He emigrated to the United States when he was 17 years old, landing in Savannah, Georgia with less than $20 in his pocket and the name and phone number of a contact in New York City who was to give him a job washing dishes. He drove a ship through the Panama Canal on the way.
He made his way to New York City and became involved in the meat industry. He worked hard or as he would say “let’s rock and roll,” and eventually opened his own butcher shop in Greenwich Village—University Place Market—which he ran for close to a decade.
His next twenty-plus year venture was running his own meat distribution company which supplied meat and poultry to a number of restaurants and diners (mostly Greek-owned) all over Manhattan. He loved his slogan “Nobody beats our meat.”
Speaking of meat, Christos was in charge of the turkey every year at Thanksgiving as the family’s resident butcher and he relished the day that his entire family would come together and celebrate.
Christos was a charming and gregarious man who made friends wherever he went. After he retired, as a widower, he made a network of friends at Little Bay Park. Whenever his family would call him, he was undoubtedly “at the park” or at “Paneras” with his park friends.
He strongly believed in the value of education. As he would say in his thick Greek accent, “education first.” He sat for hours every night after work helping Konstantina and Christopher with their Greek homework. And he also encouraged and supported his wife Effie who decided to pursue an undergraduate degree (and ultimately obtained a PhD) when Konstantina and Christopher were very young.
Christos’ visitation will be held on Tuesday, September 15, 2020 from 3-7pm at Frederick Funeral Home. The funeral service will be on Wednesday, September 16, at 9am at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in Flushing, NY. The interment will follow at All Saints Cemetery in Great Neck, NY. Due to the pandemic, social distancing measures will be followed at all times, and the family requests no physical contact.
In lieu of flowers, Christos’ family has established the Christos Mitsis Memorial Scholarship that will support deserving Greek American students in their university studies. Please use the following link to make your donations:
https://greekamerica.org/christos-mitsis-memorial-scholarship/
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