Michael A.

Mergus

Michael Mergus passed away quietly in his family home in Fort Lee, NJ last Saturday after a brief bout with leukemia. He was born Taxiarchis Athanasios Mergoupis on September 22, 1933 in the village of Atsicholos in Arcadia, Greece to Athanasios Mergoupis and Panagoula Mergoupis (née Tombros). He used the name Michalis from a young age as this was the name his father had intended for him, but his grandfather objected as he already had several grandsons named Michalis due to Greek patronymic naming conventions. Living through World War II as a young man, he completed his lyceum in nearby Dimitsana. After the war, the family relocated to Athens due to the ongoing Greek Civil War, where he completed his secondary education.

Shortly thereafter he immigrated with his younger brother Frank (Fotis) to the United States to live and work with his uncle Frank in Canton, Ohio. Frank was a successful restauranteur in Canton who had immigrated a generation earlier and coined the surname Mergus, and so Michalis became Michael Mergus. A few years later, he joined the United States Army and served during the Korean war era in Bad Nauheim, Germany.

During leave in his homeland of Greece he met Hellas (née Pantelakis) and they were married a few years later after a long-distance courtship. Relocating to northern New Jersey for job opportunities, and with a growing family, he worked in restaurants and tended bar at the famous Barney‘s men’s clothing store in lower Manhattan while putting himself through college at nearby Baruch College, where he earned a degree in accounting. Shortly thereafter he set out on his career as a small business man, eventually owning and operating several convenience and liquor stores in Hudson County. Like many Greek immigrants, he put his back into his work, working six and seven day weeks.

Upon retirement, he built a beach villa in his native Arcadia Greece, where he spent most of his remaining summers with Hellas. He became more involved in the Pan-Arcadian Society of America, a philanthropic fraternal organization, where he served as an officer. He also traveled extensively, catching up on all the vacations he had missed during his working years.

He passed away quietly surrounded by his loved ones. He is survived by his wife Hellas, sons Athan and Peter, daughter-in-law, Stella, and grandchildren, Alexis, Michael, and Christopher. He was an inspiration to us all and he is already dearly missed.