It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our dear father, Nick Karakas, husband of the late Sophia Peppes Karakas, brother of Frances Demetre and the late Tony Karakas; father-in-law, grandfather, uncle to many nieces and nephews, and godfather. Dad fell asleep peacefully in the hands of our Lord and Savior, on Monday, February 1st, just four days shy of his 95th birthday.
As a family, we feel blessed knowing that the last 32 months, Dad’s home was our home, and was part of God’s divine plan for family reconciliation and unification where we could spend time reconnecting, reminiscing, and just loving one another.
Our loss is shared by many young and old who knew Nick throughout his career in the tobacco industry, through many Greek and organizations, charitable foundations, business ventures and partnerships, and other educational endeavors and scholarships in which he was an integral member, founder, and ardent supporter.
He was a WWII Marine Corps Veteran, a philanthropist, and a warrior activist who frequently wrote editorials espousing his strong beliefs in politics and religion championing many causes both popular and not so popular. His writings stirred the emotions of many as he often liked to poke fun at the obvious but often ludicrously ridiculous.
There were the ‘public’ persona and a very different ‘private’ persona of Nick which few other than family knew. Like many, he was a man of contradictions and polarizations, but throughout it all, his enduring faith, love for family, his Greek roots/ancestry, country, freedom, democracy, the right to life, the Greek church, Orthodoxy, Hellenism, history, current events, and MAGA politics is what kept him engaged, thriving to achieve a long richly filled and blessed life.
Today, we rejoice believing in our hearts that Dad’s soul resides in God’s Kingdom, free from the physical discomfort, pain and disappointment of the temporal world. May his memory be eternal.
In respecting our father’s explicit wishes, services and burial are private. For those wishing to pay tribute or honor Nick, we ask that you kindly send your contributions to:
St. Peter’s Orthodox Church, Naples, FL Capital Campaign Building Fund
https://stpeterorthodoxchurch.com/share-the-vision-st-peter-capital-campaign-for-a-new-church/
Orthodox Christian Laity
We lost another among America’s Greatest Generation, a US Marine & devout Orthodox Christian. Nick Karakas gave much of himself and he’s in the arms of Theotokos now. Nick was AXIOS!
Memory eternal*
Loved his Posts!…Need more like him…
May his memory be Eternal. If we let the GOA continue on its current path, we will have disgraced Nick’s entire Greatest Generation. Nick threw the foul flag on them regularly and with great eloquence.
Let’s keep up the fight in his memory.
Semper Fidelis
An incredible loss to Greek Orthodox Faith –
Nick Karakas was more of an Archbishop with his loyalty to Orthodox tenets than the disgraceful AB Elpi.
Military should honor him too, a patriotic warrior for America as a decorated United States Marine. He & Metropolitan Isiah of Denver should be hailed!
AXIOS!
Another absolutely great unsung hero is Reverend William Bassakyros.. The best..
Thank God he is still alive and in good health. He has so much to offer. But yes, he is a real hero…
And hope to be alive for a long time, thank you!
On News Max tonight, the great Catholic Bill Donohue was on… a man well-grounded and devout in pro-life- seems that even Pope Francis was temporarily removed from his twitter account — pressure from secular bidenites was mounting to a crescendo– though -to his credit– good old “Frank” would not have it! Said something to the effect that the man/woman should stay that-and his bishops aren’t going to sway him– or Donohue! Bravo Catholics! Pope Francis (Frank) had his account restored…. All eyes should be on this… the lamestream will hide it as they keep pushing the evil….