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Nikolaos Stamatelatos, Nick to friends and family, was born on December the 15th, 1933 on the island of Kefalonia off the coast of Greece, to Tomas and Pandora Stamatelatos and has four sisters two of whom are based in Greece now and two in New York.

Born before World War II he had to suffer through the war and the aftermath. The people of Greece endured great hardships at this time with shortages of everything including food and for a time loss of liberty. The hardships he and his family suffered started a dream in him of a better life one day, of him coming to the United States of America, starting anew and earning enough to be able to support his family back home.

Through careful planning and effort he made this dream a reality.

From his stories to us as children we know his plan was to get a job on an ocean going liner, to work his hardest, earn the trust of his employers and, when the opportunity to jump ship in the USA presented itself he would pursue it to make his dream a reality and that is exactly what he did.
 
With some family to support him in the U.S. at the time, but mostly relying on his own wits, he taught himself English and went on to open two businesses. Nick had picked up a trade while serving in the Greek army and he used this skill to make his dream a reality. Nick's first business was in Jackson Heights on Roosevelt Avenue in New York, his second in Manhattan, both barber shops which, through his hard work, he was able to support his family back in Greece and also bring three of his sisters to America, with one later moving back to Greece.

In his early thirties, Nick went back to Greece for a visit where he met and married Georgia Stathopoulos. He brought his new bride back to the States and within the first year of marriage Nick became a father to a baby girl named Pandora after his mother. Three years later he again became a father to twin baby girls named Mary after his wife's mother and Amalia after his grandmother and a sister who had passed away some time before.

Nick lived a very full life, he loved traveling and got to see quite a bit of the World in his time. He learned a number of languages and familiarized himself with different cultures. He made a point of speaking in these languages where ever the opportunity arose and he really enjoyed those moments,

Nick was a hard working man who never took a day off work, and was always there for his family. He was well loved by everyone who knew him and was always positive no matter how great the adversity he faced during his life. He always gave a helping hand to who ever needed it. His clients were not only his clients but his friends who would later tell his daughters that Nick was always there for them. Nick always had a joke to say or a practical trick to play on someone, he always had a smile on his face. He even passed away wearing a beautiful smile.

His family was everything to him and he would often say "having boys and having girls mean two different things, boys leave, girls always stay."