In loving memory of Nicholas Karamessinis, 90 of Gulfport, Florida, who passed away peacefully on Monday, June 10, 2019, at Suncoast Hospice Care Center.
Nick was born on May 13, 1929 in New York City to Florence and Peter Karamessinis. He graduated from the State University of New York in Oswego. He attended Officer Candidate School and entered the Army during the Korean War as a First Lieutenant. He was in charge of an anti-aircraft battery at Fort Totten, Queens, New York before being Honorably Discharged in 1954.
He married Jacqueline Meyer and they had 3 children: Judy, David and Anne. Nick had 7 grandchildren: Allison, Rebecca, Rachel, Liza, Andrew, Adam and Caroline; and 3 great grandchildren, Sienna, Jake and Emily.
He made a career in public education—starting as a 6th grade teacher and eventually becoming a superintendent of schools in New Jersey, New York and Maine. During his working career, he continued his education, earning two Masters Degrees from Brooklyn College and City College of New York respectively, a doctorate in Education from NYU and a law degree from Stetson University in Florida.
Among his many interests were, playing chess, bridge and tennis. He was a staunch supporter of the ACLU, was a dog lover and greatly enjoyed traveling, going back to Greece to see his relatives most years.
His wish was for the family to have a big party for him in North Jersey (where he raised his children), with Greek food and music to celebrate his life.
Nick was a brilliant man, with a wonderfully devilish sense of humor.
His involvement with the United Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship (UUUF) was widely felt.
He was a virtual “lightning rod” in that community.
I will miss him greatly.
Very sorry to hear of Nick’s passing. We have a camp in Maine next to his place and many times I enjoyed sitting and chatting with him about any number of different subjects. He was knowledgeable in a number of areas and had also had interesting and funny stories to tell. He was a very generous neighbor, too, letting me borrow tools from his garage at any time. My condolences to all of his family members.
My apologies for only recently learning of Nick’s death. I was a tenant of Nick’s on Sabbath Day Lake during many winters while Nick was in Florida. I inherited his two English Springer Spaniels, Simon and Chelsea, and kept them for many years until my Mom was diagnosed with ALS and I could no longer keep them. Nick was a very interesting guy. I was a young lawyer at the time while he was going to law school and he would love to argue with me about recent supreme court rulings. He had a yearly tradition of having me over for dinner each early summer shortly after he’d returned where we would cook steak, drink wine and catch up until very late at which point he would announce, bluntly, I am an old man and tired, so now you have to go! Ultimately, I fell in love with a girl from New Hampshire and moved away and lost touch with Nick and Sabbath Day Lake. Rest in peace Nick. I hope the street sign you proudly said you stole in Greece is still hanging on the tree in the yard. TGM
I just stumbled on this information. I knew and admired Nick when he was a superintendent in NJ. Blessings on his family.