John Poulos

CARBONDALE - John Poulos was born on April 1, 1929, in Chicago, and through the grace of his wonderful caregivers, was able to live in his home until his death on Nov. 12, 2025.

He was the son of Stavros and Aikaterini Poulopoulou and had two sisters, Christina and Vasiliki. In the early 1930s, the family returned to Athens, Greece. John graduated from medical school in Athens in 1952 and served as a first lieutenant in the Greek Medical Corps from 1952 to 1955.

In 1955, he came to Chicago for an internship at Illinois Masonic Hospital. He later came to Carbondale as a general practitioner before returning to Chicago to complete a pediatric residency at Northwestern University. There, he met his future wife, Eugenia (Genie) Kansas, who was a medical student. They were married on June 16, 1962.

John and Genie moved to Carbondale in 1962, where he worked as a pediatrician at the Carbondale Clinic until 1984. He retired early due to vision loss from retinitis pigmentosa. He was deeply loved by his patients and their families, and to this day, grown patients still remember Dr. John for his caring manner and his Greek terms of endearment for children.

Through the generosity of the Carbondale Lions Club and Leader Dogs for the Blind, John was paired with an extraordinary German Shepherd guide dog, Max, who accompanied him for many years.

John was predeceased by his wife of 58 years, Genie, in 2020. He is survived by his two daughters, Katherine of Carbondale and Margaret (Adam Gerber) of Orlando; his grandchildren, Erica Deichen (John Deichen) and Anna Gerber of Orlando; his three great-grandchildren, Emma, Peter, and William Deichen; and his nephew, Dimitri Goussios (Katerina), of Athens, Greece.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Leader Dogs for the Blind in his memory.