Peter A Andrianopoulos

Peter A. Andrianopoulos – father, brother, grandfather, uncle, bartender extraordinaire, veteran, and great friend – passed away peacefully on January 30, 2015.  The youngest of three children, he was born in Chicago, IL, to Effie (Danos) Andrianopoulos and Alex Andrianopoulos.  After the family moved east to the Chester/Eddystone area, Peter graduated from Eddystone High School and enrolled in classes at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.  He served in radio communications during the Korean War as a member of the United States Air Force.

Peter married Faith Prassas in 1965.  Together, they had two children – Alexis and Anthony.  Peter’s kids were his pride and joy.

For 25 years, Peter owned and operated the Brandywine Village Pub, a small but popular bar in the Brandywine Village section of Wilmington.  Known to all as Pete’s, the bar attracted young professionals from downtown, local politicians, and scores of law students from the nearby Delaware Law School.  Peter asked each patron to bring in a pennant from their college, all of which he proudly hung.  Known for its overstuffed sandwiches at lunch and Peter’s killer Bloody Mary recipe, Pete’s was called “yuppie” when the term was first coined in the early 80s.  With no signs advertising it and picture windows filled with beautiful plants, Pete’s was often mistaken for a florist instead of a pub. 

After Pete’s closed in 1985, Peter tended and managed bars at other local establishments including the Greenery Too and Cromwell’s.  Many of his loyal patrons from Pete’s followed him, and he also had the opportunity to meet new customers and make new friends.  Peter’s customers became like family to him, and he often spent holidays with friends he had met through tending bar.  At Cromwell’s, Peter was known for his daily sports trivia question, a testament to his vast knowledge and love of sports.  In fact, Peter’s love of sports was so well-known and he was so loved at Cromwell’s that his employee number was retired and a banner in his honor was hung on the wall behind the bar when he retired from employment.

While he loved all sports, his favorites were college football and college basketball, especially the University of Delaware.  In 1985, Peter had the opportunity to fulfill a lifelong dream and go to the Big Dance – the NCAA Final Four – with his son Anthony.  He travelled throughout the region many additional times for the Big East Tournament and Eastern Regional Tournament, even making it back to the Final Four one more time when it was played at The Meadowlands.  Closer to home, Peter also was a regular fan at Haverford College volleyball games – especially the away games, where he was often Haverford’s only fan – to watch his daughter Alexis play in the mid-80s.  Afterward, he frequently drove Alexis and a few teammates back to campus, with a detour for ice cream or other treats on the way.

In addition to sports, Peter loved Greek music, especially singer George Dalaras (whom he called the Bruce Springsteen of Greece).  A true night owl, Peter travelled throughout the region to see Dalaras perform live and always managed to find out where the band was dining after the show.  Alexis and Anthony would find themselves eating a second dinner at 1 a.m. at a table conveniently located next to Dalaras and his bandmates.

Peter was a great consumer of news.  His television was always set to a news or sports station, and he read several newspapers daily.  He also loved brain-teasers like crossword puzzles, cryptograms, sudoku, and word find and would do all the puzzles in each day’s newspaper. 

In addition to his parents, Peter was preceded in death by his sisters, Theone Frangos and Constance Kakaroukas.  He is survived by his children Alexis (Dave Gross) of Wilmington and Anthony (Debra) of New York, his granddaughter Ella, nephew Nick Kakaroukas (Suzanne), former wife and current friend Faith Andrianopoulos, dozens of cousins around the country, and friends dating all the way back to Eddystone High School.  We will miss his sense of adventure, delicious cooking, unique sense of humor, late night escapades, and pop quizzes about sports and music trivia.

Friends may call Wednesday, February 4 from 6-8 p.m. at the Doherty Funeral Home, 1900 Delaware Ave., Wilmington..  Services will be held Thursday, February 5 at 11 a.m. at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church, 808 N. Broom Street in Wilmington. Burial will be in Silverbrook Cemetery, Lancaster Ave., Wilmington, DE.

The family would like to thank the caring staffs at Shipley Manor, Wilmington Hospital, and Compassionate Care Hospice at St. Francis Hospital.

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