Demetrios Nicholaides

Demetrios Nicholaides passed away on February 20, 2017 at the age of 89. He was born in Thessaloniki, Greece on July 29, 1927, the son of Haralambos and Despina "Pepina" Nicholaides. He immigrated from Greece in 1955, and married Despina Jordanides in 1961 at Assumption Greek Orthodox Church in Detroit. He was proud to be American and often proclaimed that this was the greatest country in the world. Charismatic, passionate and generous, Demetrios (nicknamed "Jimmy" the Greek) had a legendary quality about him and brought his energetic, boisterous personality into every room he entered. Known for his strong character, perseverance, inner strength and deep enduring love for his family, Demetrios' greatest joy in life centered on good times with family and friends. Remembered most fondly as a loving "Pappou" (grandfather) who deeply valued his grandchildren, Demetrios had a long life of overcoming adversity to achieving great success. Gifted with a strong sense of confidence and a strong inner faith life, Jimmy set aside his personal wants and desires early on to pursue a life of being a provider for his sister and her two children, for his immediate family, for his aunt in Greece, and later for other families in need through his businesses. He enjoyed long discussions on politics and philosophy, fellowship with his male friends at the Greek coffee house, watching soccer and basketball, the amazing home-cooked meals of his devoted wife, Sunday dinner with family, and the joy of his daughters and grandchildren. Demetrios ("Mimi" his Greek nickname) lived an early life defined by the illness and eventual loss of his beloved mother when he was an elementary school child from ages 5-7. While he rarely shared childhood memories, he spoke fondly of his mother as a "wonderful and loving woman who was thrilled to have a boy after four girls [only one of whom survived childhood]." Following his mother's death at 34, the family financial conditions worsened as their father has spent much of the family's wealth in the hope of saving his wife. Despite this major loss, Demetrios spoke of being "well taken care of" by his sister who at age 15 took over as the family caretaker. His biggest childhood joy was having the chance to occasionally rent a bike to ride, and warm "koulouria" (Greek cookie) after church on Sunday. Shortly after entering his formative teen years, Demetrios' life changed dramatically once again with Mussolini's army invading Greece on October 28, 1940, followed by the German invasion of Greece in April, 1941. From ages 13-17 he lived under the impoverished conditions and fear of war. Some of the most vivid stories he recalled over the years were ones of severe food and clothing shortages during wartime. "From 1941 to 1945, we had terrible hunger. I did anything for a piece of bread, for anything to eat. Things were so terrible. It's surprising we survived; only with God's help. For four years, we have no meat, no pasta. We were lucky our neighbors had chickens that produced eggs." "I wore pants for four years made from a German potato bag. I wore my father's shoes, but they had holes in the soles. I remember my foot being wet in the snow. Those were terrible times." As is the case during wartime, daily life changed for him as his school shut down, his father lost his stable government job, and his family was forced to leave their home and move in with relatives into a one-room apartment. To earn money for his family, Demetrios often recalled working as a young teen during the war, selling cigarettes, peanuts, candy, and essentially anything he could, to the German army. He also recalled memories of bombings near his home. "During wartime, I would give German soldiers cigarettes in exchange for bread, soap and other staples. I used to do anything to make a living, to survive." "We would cover our shutters with black paper to hide the light. . . I remember a bomb coming very close to our home one night." "After he lost his job during the war, my father went from a 200-pound man to 90 pounds," recalled Demetrios about his father Haralambos. "At that time, there was no job security." "We moved to Athens to a one-bedroom apartment, the three of us (his father, sister and him)." With God's Grace, Demetrios survived wartime, and at age 17 was hired by a rubber company that employed 600 workers. Starting out in the factory, Demetrios quickly gained the trust and respect of his employer who promoted him to a professional bookkeeping position in the office and paid for his training. He worked to help support his family from ages 17 to 23, until he was recruited for mandatory service in the Greek Army from 1950-53. On November 30, 1955, Demetrios traveled with his father by ship across the Atlantic to the New York harbor, on the longest journey of his life that would change his destiny. What started as a brief visit to see his newly married sister who asked them to come, ended in a lifelong stay. Shortly after visiting, his brother-in-law died suddenly of a heart attack, leaving his wife (Demetrios' sister Rebecca) widowed and their two children (2 and 3 years old) fatherless. While Demetrios initially planned to return to Greece, after the untimely death of his brother-in-law, he bravely stayed in America to financially support his sister and her two children. Leaving behind a solid professional career path he was building for himself, along with all his friendships and relatives, Demetrios dismissed his personal dreams and committed his life to doing the right thing to support a sister who had been like a mother to him. As he would say, "I had always done what my strong conscious told me." Demetrios' late brother-in-law partially owned and managed a restaurant in Detroit, Chris' Grill. Being an honorable man, Demetrios quickly understood what he needed to do. At age 28, after a budding early career, he started as a busboy at the restaurant, trained and worked nights as a cook, and eventually became a proprietor. Demetrios slowly learned a language he had never studied or spoken, and quickly learned new skills for what would become a lifelong career in the restaurant business. "I didn't know how to boil and egg, but little by little I learned and I ended up running the place." "I sacrificed my youth for my sister and her family, and I have a clear conscience." Demetrios Nicholaides soon realized he had a passion and talent for operating businesses. From 1963 1995, "Jimmy" built and ran 8 successful metro-Detroit area restaurants, nearly all from the ground up. His main accomplishments include being the owner and proprietor of Chris' Grill, Sterling House, Field's, Cream of Troy, Piccolo's, Old House and Jimmy's Grill. His greatest trademarks as a restaurant owner were providing generous meal portions, giving his workers generous raises when the business profited, providing them with health care benefits back in the '70's, and being well-liked and loved by his patrons and his employees. "I earned the workers' respect. I gave them raises when I made good money." Despite all the loss and adversity Demetrios faced throughout his early lifetime, he never showed any bitterness or anger about his life. All his family heard were words of gratitude and praise to God for granting him a bountiful life. Demetrios was a man of great faith and God resided in his heart. One of his many sayings was that (Greek) "Kalos eivai O anthropos me to Theo mesa tou" (translated to mean, good is the man who has God within him). Demetrios Nicholaides is survived by his wife of 56 years Despina, his two daughters Alexandra and Rebecca, and his four wonderful grandchildren, Nicholas, Alexandra, Christina and Andrew. Visitation will be held on Thursday from 3:00 until 8:00 pm at A.H. Peters Funeral Home, 20705 Mack Ave., at Vernier Rd., Grosse Pointe Woods. He will lie instate on Friday from 10:00 am until 10:30 am funeral at Assumption Greek Orthodox Church, 21800 Marter Rd., St Clair Shores. Memorial contributions may be made to Assumption Greek Orthodox Church.

Funeral Home:

A. H. Peters Funeral Home of Grosse Pointe

20705 Mack Avenue

Grosse Pointe Woods, MI

US 48236