George Teftsis

George Teftsis, a Greektown icon, died peacefully on April 19, 2011 at St. John Hospital in Detroit at the age of 74.. George was born on July 12, 1936 in Thessaloniki, Greece; the son of Michalis and Eleni Teftsis. Many Greektown goers remember George Teftsis either because he cut their hair in George's Barber Shop in the 60s and 70s or because he served them French and Greek pastries at the Astoria Pastry Shop, which he founded with his wife in 1971. Teftsis was a well-known Greektown personality mostly because he enjoyed standing outside and striking up conversations with everyone. George is survived by his wife of 54 years, Andromachi; his two sons Michael (Rosalva) and Tasso (Margaret); and his four grandchildren Alexander, Andrianna, George and Thomas. In the early years of their marriage they worked as tobacco farmers in the village of Gerakarou in northern Greece. Teftsis immigrated to the United States in 1966 with his wife and two young sons and did not speak English. He was 29 and landed in Detroit for a job in the factory. His personality, however, couldn't be confined to a factory floor. He shortly left to work busing tables at the Roostertail when the likes of singers Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett entertained there. Eventually he opened George's Barber Shop in Greektown, a coney island, and the Astoria Pastry Shop. He had a keen business mind and was fearless. He taught himself how to do things or asked others. He found out quickly that in Detroit he would need a car. Without knowing how to drive one, he bought his first car, taught himself to drive, and drove himself to the Secretary of State's Office to get a license. He visited his hometown in Thessaloniki, Greece almost every summer for the last 30 years, where he made new friends every year. After living his life in Greektown, he retired in the late 1990s. He recently spent winters in Florida in a Greek community where he made more friends. He loved people and conversation so much that he spent two kaffee klatsch shifts each day, morning and evening, at the Roseville Meijer with a group of friends. He was known for his Turkish sayings, his acerbic wit, a flash of temper, and extreme generosity. "You don't have to marry your friends," he was known to say. "You have to pass a life with them." Visitation will be held on Wednesday from 2:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. at the A. H. Peters Funeral Home, 20705 Mack Avenue at Vernier Road in Grosse Pointe Woods. Trisagion 3:00 p.m. Wednesday. His body will lie instate at Assumption Greek Orthodox Church, 21800 Marter Road, St. Clair Shores from 9:30 a.m. Thursday until the funeral begins at 10:00 a.m. Rev. Michael Varlamos will officiate. Entombment will follow at Cadillac Memorial Gardens East in Clinton Township. Memorial contributions may be made to the Assumption Greek Orthodox Church, 21800 Marter Road, St. Clair Shores, MI 48080.

Funeral Home:

A. H. Peters Funeral Home of Grosse Pointe

20705 Mack Avenue

Grosse Pointe Woods, MI

US 48236