Dean Pappas, owner of food processing firm, philanthropist
In the early 1960s, Dean C. Pappas, a student at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa., was inspired when he heard the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. speak there.
In the early 1960s, Dean C. Pappas, a student at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa., was inspired when he heard the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. speak there.
"What impressed him was the passion that Dr. King had for the civil rights cause and how he figured out something deeply important to him," Mr. Pappas' son, Dimitri, said.
"It was one of several things," Dimitri Pappas said, that caused his father "to examine his own life."
The inspiration he gained as a young man Mr. Pappas was able to put fully into action a year after he retired. In 2012, he established the Dean C. and Zoe S. Pappas Visiting Scholar Endowment Fund at what is now Stockton University with a $1 million donation.
"He wanted students at Stockton to have similar access to outstanding visiting scholars," the university said in a statement.
The first speaker, in 2014, was Sandra Day O'Connor, the retired Supreme Court justice.
On Saturday, April 30, Mr. Pappas, 76, former owner of a food processing firm in Seabrook, N.J., died of pancreatic cancer at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.
He headed Clement Pappas & Co., a canner of fruits and vegetables with two full-time workers when he took it over in 1962, and made it into a bottler of juices and beverages with 600 workers in New Jersey and four other states by the time it was sold in 2011.
Stockton president Harvey Kesselman said in a statement Tuesday that Mr. Pappas' "commitment to improving the lives of others was steadfast and unwavering, and his willingness to contribute to the betterment of our society was so important to him."
Kesselman said the gifts of the Pappases "have made a significant difference in the lives of so many of our campus community members, and his legacy will live on at Stockton forever."
Mr. Pappas had been a member of the university's board of trustees since 2006 and was its chairman from September 2014 to May 2015.
The university stated that the Pappases committed $250,000 in July 2015 to establish a Greek art and architecture fund.
And in 2012, the university said, they donated $150,000 to its Interdisciplinary Center for Hellenic Studies, which, in 2015, was named for them.
Born in Atlantic City, Mr. Pappas grew up in Bridgeton, N.J., graduated from Blair Academy in Warren County in 1958, and earned a bachelor's degree in English literature at Dickinson in 1962.
Mr. Pappas became president that year of the firm founded by his father, Clement, in Cedarville, Cumberland County.
"In the early days," his son said, "he had to do everything. He had to clean tomato kettles with steel wool" at part of the tomato canning operation.
Mr. Pappas was a former trustee of Blair Academy and a current trustee of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and a member of the Founders Society of Dickinson College.
He was a former president of the Philadelphia chapter of the World Presidents Organization and a current board member of the Philadelphia Film Society.
Mr. Pappas was the past chairman of several organizations related to his company - the New Jersey Food Processors Association; its parent, the Food Processors Association; the Juice Products Association; and the Food Institute.
The Grocery Manufacturing Association gave him its lifetime achievement award.
Mr. Pappas was a former board member of Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church in Wilmington, and a member of the denomination's Leadership 100, founded in 1984 to support agencies such as the International Orthodox Christian Charities.
He was a member of the Wilmington Country Club, where he golfed and played tennis.
Besides his wife and son, Mr. Pappas is survived by daughter Aleni, a sister, and four grandchildren.
Viewings were set from 6 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, May 4, at the Chandler Funeral Home, 2506 Concord Pike, Wilmington, and 9:30 to 11 a.m. Thursday, May 5, at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church, 808 N. Broom St., Wilmington, before an 11 a.m. funeral service there. Burial is to be private.
Donations may be sent to the Stockton University Center for Hellenic Studies, 101 Vera King Farris Dr., Galloway, N.J. 08205-9441.
Condolences may be offered to the family at www.chandlerfuneralhome.com.
610-313-8134@WNaedele