Anastasios Tsantilas, 72, Greece-born restaurateur

Anastasios "Tasso" Tsantilas was a proud Greek American. But pragmatism beat out patriotism when he opened a restaurant in Kirkland in 1973 and named it Athens Pizza and Spaghetti House.

The restaurant's fare was more Italian than Greek, a concession to taste buds unaccustomed to Hellenic cuisine. But Mr. Tsantilas was among the first Northwest restaurateurs to serve grinders: footlong, hot submarine sandwiches then popular mostly on the East Coast.

Mr. Tsantilas' business savvy spawned two more family restaurants, in Auburn and Des Moines. But he held firm to his roots as a poor immigrant. Though he did well enough to retire at 45, he had few hobbies and drove a sensible Nissan Sentra.

"His life revolved around family and work," said Janny Devekos, his eldest child. "That's all it was."

Mr. Tsantilas died last Friday after being diagnosed with leukemia in January. He was 72.

Born in Sparti, Greece, in 1934, Mr. Tsantilas immigrated to Montreal at age 20 and worked as a janitor, dishwasher, tailor and taxi driver — often at the same time. He married a fellow Greek, Voula Manolakos, later that year.

The family moved to Bellingham, where Mr. Tsantilas found work in a tailor shop. But he soon decided to move to Massachusetts to join his younger brother, who owned a pizza parlor. Mr. Tsantilas then opened his own hole-in-the-wall pizza joint in Southbridge, Mass.

"He always wanted to open a restaurant," said George Tsantilas, his youngest son. He said his father was driven less by a passion for Greek food than by a desire to succeed in America.

Mr. Tsantilas moved the family again in the late 1960s, this time to open a pizza place in Mount Vernon, because his wife had family in Washington state. In 1973, he opened Athens Pizza on Central Way in downtown Kirkland.

Mr. Tsantilas sold the Kirkland restaurant in 1980 and opened another Athens Pizza and Spaghetti House in Auburn — for the challenge of opening another restaurant.

But in 1994, the new owners of the Kirkland restaurant were struggling, so they sold it back to the Tsantilas family. It was operated by Janny Devekos and her husband, George Devekos, under the name Acropolis Pizza and Pasta until 2004, when her younger brother, George Tsantilas, took over. George Tsantilas had operated Athens Pizza and Pasta, in Des Moines, from 2000 to 2004.

Janny and George's sister, Euginia, and her husband, Spiro Alexopoulos, own Rhodes Pizza Pasta in Sedro-Woolley, Skagit County.

In addition to his wife and three children, Mr. Tsantilas is survived by a daughter-in-law, Eftihia "Happy" Tsantilas, 10 grandchildren and a great-grandson. His eldest son, Christos, died in 1980.

A funeral was held Tuesday. Donations may be made to St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church, 2100 Boyer Ave. E., Seattle, WA 98112.

Kyung Song: 206-464-2423