Jack M. Demetris, 91, owner of Bridgeport food market

Jack M. Demetris, 91, of St. Davids, owner of Demetris Uptown Market in Bridgeport, died of heart failure Friday, Oct. 21, at Genesis Healthcare's Wayne Center.

Mr. Demetris emigrated from Greece with his mother and father as an infant. In 1932, his parents opened a food market in Bridgeport. The store had two aisles and everything - sugar, flour, rice - was in barrels, said his son, Dennis.

During World War II, Mr. Demetris served in the Army in the Pacific. Among his duties was accompanying celebrities entertaining the troops, including the Andrews Sisters and comedian Joe E. Brown.

After his discharge, Mr. Demetris and his two brothers took over the operations of the family market. Later, he ran the market with his son, who has a bachelor's degree from Gettysburg College and a master's in business from Temple University.

"My father wanted me to do whatever I wanted to do, but I wanted to carry on the family business," Dennis Demetris told The Inquirer in 1994.

Mr. Demetris expanded and modernized the store, which he helped operate until he was 86. He maintained an old-fashioned friendly rapport with customers, his son said. In a memory book, area residents wrote of how personable he was and how generous, allowing purchases on credit when people were having hard times, his son said.

Mr. Demetris, who invested in real estate in Bridgeport, was interviewed by The Inquirer in 2001 after a devastating fire burned out 55 businesses in the borough. "It's going to be rough, but somehow we'll get over it," he said.

An accomplished athlete, Mr. Demetris lettered in football and baseball at Bridgeport High School. In the early 1940s, he organized several traveling men's and women's basketball teams and played on a basketball team that won a Montgomery County championship.

He was inducted into the Bridgeport Borough Hall of Fame in 2009.

Since 1953, he had been married to Olga "Dolly" Doukakis Demetris. The couple met in New York at a dance sponsored by a Greek church.

Mr. Demetris supported several Greek Orthodox organizations, including the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and the Order of St. Andrew the Apostle.

Besides his wife and son, he is survived by daughters Alexis Limberakis, Lisa Palmieri, LeAnne Kauriga, and Artemis Tsingiropoulos, and 12 grandchildren.

A funeral will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 26, at St. Luke Greek Orthodox Church, 35 N. Malin Rd., Broomall, Pa. 19008. Friends may call from 10 a.m. Burial will be in Arlington Cemetery, Drexel Hill.

Donations may be made to the church building fund or to Bridgeport Community Fund, Suite 300, 144 E. DeKalb Pike, King of Prussia, Pa. 19406.