Andrew William Stathis

Andrew William Stathi, of Clearwater died April 24, 2017. He was born Dec. 1, 1925, to Gus and Xenia Stathis, in Chicago, Ill., where he grew up, working as a youngster in his parents’ movie theater. After graduating from high school in 1943, he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps the following year. He served until the war’s end at Foster Field in Victoria, Texas. There he met and married Dorothy Martignoni, returning with her to his home state to enroll under the GI bill in the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where he earned a degrees in ceramic and chemical engineering. The couple had four children and later divorced. Andrew worked as a quality control engineer for various companies during his career, including the John Douglas Co., the Carborundum Co., the Jim Walter Corp., and the Celotex Corp. In addition to Illinois, he lived for periods in Ohio, New York, Florida, and Indiana before eventually settling for good in the Clearwater area. Andrew enjoyed sailing and swimming in the Gulf at Clearwater Beach, where Gus and Xenia owned the Xenia Motel from about 1956-1971. His favorite spot for swimming was the “Greek beach” near Palm Pavilion. In 1961, Andrew married Frances Bunger in Indiana; they later divorced. On Aug. 5, 1967, he married Toronto native Renée Bastien of St. Petersburg. They were married nearly 44 years, until her death in 2011. As members of the Tampa Bay Pug Club, they fostered and sometimes adopted a series of beloved pugs after first taking in a neighborhood stray. In November 2015, Andrew married Kathleen Duke Carson of Dunedin.

Andrew was predeceased by his parents and his brother, William Stathis of Clearwater. He is survived by his wife, Kathleen; his children, Gregory Stathis of Lincoln, Mass.; Deanna Stathis of Berkeley, Cal., Ellen Stathis Terry of Austin, Texas; and James Stathis of Poughquag, N.Y.; six grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; and niece Joy Lynch of Burr Ridge, Ill.