Mark Owen Stamatakis was born in Tarpon Springs, Florida on March 4, 1941 to Ione Woodall from Florida and Damianos Stamatakis from Greece. His older brother George Stamatakis predeceased. His sister Helen Diaz currently lives in Palm Coast, Florida, and Mark is uncle to Helen's three children, Lori, Tony and Mark.
At a young age, Mark relocated with his father to Oxford, North Carolina where he remained until he joined the United States Air Force and was stationed in Alaska. Mark was eventually stationed at Macdill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida. He was an Air Policeman at the time of his honorable discharge.
After Mark's discharge, he joined the Tampa Police Department where worked in a number of different departments such as homicide, vice and internal affairs. Mark retired in 1981 as a Detective Sergeant. During Mark's tenor he helped solve many high profile crimes such as the Betty Lou Haber murder for hire case.
After leaving the police department, he became the franchise owner and operator of 2 Pinch-a-Penny retail pool supply stores for 20 years, after which he retired into yet another career with Publix Supermarkets where he was employed at the time of his passing for 11 years.
At the time of Mark' passing, he had been predeceased by his daughter Kathy Stamatakis. Mark was survived by his beautiful and loving wife of 46 years, Darlene Stamatakis. Mark was also survived by two other daughters, Jandi Coakley and Sandy Cooper, and his son Scott Stamatakis, as well as his six grandchildren, Tyler, Piper and Bryce Coakley and Shelby, Chad and Ryan Cooper, and two great grandchildren, Landon and Addyson Coakley. Mark was an active member of Tampa FOP, Lodge 27.
Mark's life will be honored on Tuesday, December 4, 2012 at Tampa Bay Community Church located at 3315 West Fletcher Ave, Tampa, FL 33618. The service is at 2:00PM, and visitation will start at 1:00PM.
In lieu of flowers, you may make a donation in his memory to Tampa FOP, Lodge 27 (TampaFop27.com)
Please sign the guestbook below.
Veterans Funeral Care
727-524-9202
The laughter has gone out of my life. You were always such a clown, even as a small boy. It was the little things in life that you cherished and, in turn, we cherish you.
No need to say you will be missed: you will be.
No need to say you were loved: you were and are.
No need to say goodbye: I will see you again.
We send our thoughts and prayers to the Stamatakis family. Both of us worked with Mark at the Tampa Police Dept and he will be sorely missed at the FOP meetings. Going into the Publix store at Lutz Lake won’t be the same. He always had a smile on his face and he had the funniest laugh. Rest in peace, Mark. You will be missed.
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So sorry to hear about Mark…was so fortunate to have known Mark for about 45 years…enjoyed working woth Markm in Homicide Dept at Tampa Police Dept..Mark was always such a joy the be around…when he was the acting sargent in Homicide I would take my daughter with me when I had to go to the station on my day off to pick up pay check or evidence for court …he would always give her a quarter…she is grown up today and delighted to see him when she would go to Publix to shop…he was such a fond memory of her childhood…Mark will certainly be missed by multitude of people…will be working at time of funeral but would love to be there..Darlene..my prayers will go up for you and family…
Sorry for the loss of such a great guy, he was a pleasure to know and work with.
I didn’t know Mark’s name at Publix but we always joked with each other. I am shocked to read of his death and I will miss his smiling face at what I call, “My Publix”.
I remember Mark well in the DD at TPD.always had a smile on his face and really tried to make everyone do the same.I bought many chemicals from him at his PAP stores.A great person who will be missed.He’s home now helping to prepare a place for the rest of us.Another one of Gog’s angels gone home. George L
We met Mark at the most difficult time in our lives when Sergio’s sister, Diana De La Paz, was kidnapped and murdered in 1971. Mark helped our family in the 18 days it took to recover her body. His kindness has not been forgotten.
Our thoughts and prayers to his familly.
He will be missed. He was one of the good guys.To bad there are not more like him. R.I.P
Many fond memories of working with Mark in Homicide. He was a great guy on and off the job. God Bless his Soul. My condolences to the family
We have lost a truly good guy, Mark was my break-in partner and mentor when I was assigned to the DD and a friend very since. I will pray for him and his family.
Very nice man; wonderful family. I knew him from the police dept and was also very dear friends with Darlene. Our prayers and thoughts are with you , Darlene and your family. With love, Kathy.
Mark was a great Person and Comrade. He Loved life and made sure the rest of of us did too.
God bless Him and Family.
R.I.P. My Friend, prior Appointments will not allow Me to pay My last respects.
We only had the chance to spend a few moments with Mark, but from those brief encounters, we were impressed that he truly was one of the good guys. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Darlene, Sandy and Scott. We are saddened by your loss. With warm regards,
Brian & Suzanne
So sad that Mr Mark has left us. It was always so refreshing to see him at our “local” Publix. He was much loved by my 2 children who used to think that he slept there. We will all miss you.
May you rest in peace Mr Mark. It was a pure pleasure to have known you.
I have missed seeing “Mark” over the years since he left the Pince-A-Penny here in Temple Terrace. Now I know his last name, but will remember him as the joker. You will be missed.
My condolences to Mark’s Family. He will be missed. I try to remember to use my disposable bags at Publix in Mark’s honor. He was always after me if I left them in the car :)
We will always remember your wonderful sense of humor and laugh.
This is Andy’s son. I an so sorry to hear of Mark’s passing. My dad thought the world of Mark and spoke of him often. I remember when I was little him telling me stories of what he and Mark got into while working together. I think it was a good time in both of their lives working together. Again, I am sorry for the loss of a great man and I have you and your family in my prayers. God bless.
Remembering the good times with Mark and Darlene at our trade shows for Pinch a Penny. Always put a smile on our faces.I can still hear him saying(candy little girl). So sorry for your loss of such a special man,but am thankful he knew the Lord. Darlene and family, our prayers are with you at this time of loss.
God Bless,
Pat & Don Zucarelli
In spite of his fabulous sense of humor and endless teasing, one always knew you were in the presence of a true gentleman. Mark added a lot of pleasure to my day, whenever we chatted at Publix. I will miss him.
Dad, I’m sitting her with mom, the funeral is over and it was absolutely beautiful. You looked so good. There were a lot of people that came over to the house afterwards. You wouldn’t believe the numer of people morning your departure. Family, friends, co-workers and even cutomers and victims from your former careers have reached out to us about your wonderful life. Everyone’s gone now. Mom and I are just sitting here crying and thinking of you and we both just want to say how much we love you and how much you meant too so many people. We will miss you and we will always love you. R.I.P, Godspeed, until we meet again, love Scott and Darlene.
My deepest condolences to the family and my thoughts and prayers are with you.
Mark was my field training officer during my first year as a police officer. I cannot say enough what a great person he was and all fond memories I have of his life.
Well, going to publix will just never be the same…who’s going to holler “hey red,what’s up?” About 11 years ago I met this funny “bag boy” when I said no, I don’t need help to the car…wrong..He proceeded to tell me it was job security and he needed his job..funny, funny,wonderful man! You just never left the store without a smile when Mark was there. I am so sorry for your loss of this special person and thank you for sharing him with the rest of us..we are all better people for having known him.
Mark was an honest and very caring person. I knew him during his TPD tenure and he was truly a friend. The kind of friend that you miss and wished you had stayed in touch.
Jim (retired TPD) and I were long-time neighbors of Mark and Darlene…we’ll always remember Mark’s friendly smile. We’re sorry to hear of your passing. Darlene and Scott, our thoughts and prayers are with you at this difficult time. Peace be unto you.
I had the very good fortune of working with Mark at Publix’s for 5 years. I am so sorry for your loss. He was fun to work with.
Bill Beach
Land O Lakes
Mark and I were in grade school together and were best friends until he left to join the Air Force. We lost contact for many years until we refound each other about six years ago. We renewed our friendship via email. I will always remember our teen years in Oxford, NC. He was a good friend, a caring friend. I wish we could have gotten together again, but it didn’t happen. I am just fortunate that we did make contact again. God bless the family.
Mark, I miss you very much and it is still hard to believe you are not with me.
I thought of you today but that is nothing new. I thought about you yesterday and days before that too. I think of you in silence, I often speak your name. All I have are memories and a picture in a frame. Your memory is a keepsake, from which I’ll never part. God has you in his arms, I have you in my heart. Happy birthday dad. I love you and I miss you more then you’ll ever know.
Happy Father’s Day Dad. I miss you!
Mark You were an awesome man and father. You were always very kind to me. So sorry to here of your passing. Sending love and good thoughts to you and your family.