A giant in Sudbury's restaurant community has died.
Peter Moutsatsos, 83, died Sunday surrounded by his family. He is survived by his wife, Shirley. The couple ran Gus's Restaurant on Elm Street for decades and would have celebrated their 59th wedding anniversary later this month.
Along with their uncle Gus Lagges – who came to Canada in the 1920s – Peter and his brother George opened Gus's Restaurant in 1952, not long after coming to Sudbury. The family hailed from Metamorfosis, Greece, a suburb of Athens. He and Shirley married when she arrived in 1959.
“My late brother and I, when we arrived, we had $16 between us,” Peter said in a 2009 interview. "We worked very hard and we were very successful."
Not only is the restaurant still operating 55 years later, but other immigrants from Metamorfosis worked at Gus's before striking out on their own. Shirley's sister, Toula Sakellaris, still owns the popular Apollo Restaurant on The Kingsway.
The owners of Mr. Prime Rib – George and Helen Roumanes — also hail from Metamorfosis, as does Junior Moutsatsos, the co-owner (with his wife Leslie) of P&M's Kouzzina. Both worked at Gus's before starting their own businesses.
He and Shirley had two children, Steve and Faye, and six grandchildren, Sophia, Alexander, Mina, Peter, Christina, and Christopher.
The funeral mass was held on Friday at 10:30 a.m. at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, 486 Ester Rd., with internment to follow. In lieu of flowers, donations to the Peter and Shirley Moutsatsos Bursary at Laurentian University or St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church would be appreciated.
