Nicholas J. Contos, owner of No Name Restaurant (for those of you who've ever lived in Boston)
MGW
nearly 40 years
By Gloria Negri, Globe Staff | October 16, 2004
Almost every day for more than four decades, Nick Contos could be
found cooking the meals, greeting and serving the customers, keeping
the books, or mopping the floors at closing time at the No Name
Restaurant on the Boston Fish Pier. Only the No Name's many regulars
knew he was the owner.
In his own quiet way, Mr. Contos -- born Nicholas J. but always called
Nick -- was as legendary for his good deeds as his landmark restaurant
is for its seafood chowder, fresh fish, large portions, and reasonable
prices. Fishermen and office workers, politicians, police and
newspaper people, movie stars and tourists ate there. So did the
Kennedys.
Mr. Contos, who emigrated from Greece at 16 and worked in his father's
restaurant until earning two master's degrees in business
administration and taking over the business, died Tuesday at Brigham
and Women's Hospital after a seven-year battle with colon cancer. He
was 74 and lived in Wellesley.
His daughter, Anastasia, also of Wellesley, said yesterday that Mr.
Contos had been undergoing chemotherapy treatments for those seven
years, but had continued to work every day until the last month. ''Dad
was making phone calls to check on things there from his hospital bed.
He told me, 'I still have a lot of things to do in life.' "
His many charitable works, about which he never spoke and did without
recognition, were among them.
''Nick was the most extraordinary person I have ever met, mostly
because he lived for others, his family and his friends," said the
Rev. Dr. Emmanuel Clapsis, dean of the Holy Cross Greek Orthodox
School of Theology in Brookline. ''No one who approached him for any
kind of help was turned away. His help was not only material but also
humane."
Where children were involved, Mr. Contos had ''a weak spot," Anastasia
said. He supported children's homes here and in Mytilene, on the Greek
Island of Lesbos, where he was born. He supported a camp for children
in New Hampshire sponsored by his church, and the building of several
churches in New England. He was dedicated to his Orthodox faith and
Hellenic culture.
He was also dedicated to his employees, many of whom were family
members and many more who considered him family.
Mr. Contos' father, John, came to the Boston area first and opened a
restaurant in 1917 on the same site where the No Name stands today. He
called it the Deluxe Diner.
John returned to Greece and married Areta (Zouros) and then continued
traveling between Greece and Boston while starting his family there.
When Nicholas was 16, he moved here and stayed with his father and
uncles in Watertown. His mother and sister joined them later.
Young Nicholas worked at the diner through his studies at Watertown
High School and Boston University, where he graduated in 1951 with a
major in economics.
He earned his master's degree at Harvard Business School before
joining the Army during the Korean War. Because of his expertise and
knowledge of Greece, he was assigned as an intelligence officer to the
Greek embassy in Athens.
When he was discharged, he enrolled at New York University where he
earned another master's degree in business administration and went to
work with his father at the restaurant in 1960. Soon, Anastasia said,
John Contos turned the business over to his son. About the same time,
she said, the diner became known as the No Name. There are a number of
legends about how the restaurant got its name, but Anastasia said she
did not know which one was true.
In 1969, Mr. Contos married Katerina (Koukara). They had met at a
wedding in Greece.
He remained the same, humble man throughout his career, working hard
and even wearing the same basic clothes.
''Dad was very intelligent but a very simple man," Anastasia said.
''All his life he wore the same cut gray wool pants. My mom would buy
them in multiples. He would wear a blue shirt and a sweater in blue or
burgundy."
''He would get up at 4 a.m. to go buy the fish at the pier," his
daughter said. ''He learned to cook, especially the chowder, though he
never cooked at home. He waited tables, sat with the customers,
cleaned up at closing. If one of the help was out sick, Dad would fill
in for his job."
Often Mr. Contos would not get home until 11 p.m. or midnight from the
No Name, which is open seven days a week. Anastasia said he took only
three vacations during her lifetime -- ''He took us to Disney World;
he went to Greece, but a small fire in the restaurant brought him back
early; and when the Greek church sent him to Rome to meet the pope."
Word of the good food, prices, and portions at the No Name got around
and one day, Anastasia said, Colonel Sanders of Kentucky Fried
Chicken-fame came in to try to persuade Mr. Contos to start a No Name
seafood franchise. Heturned the offer down.
Among her father's last wishes, Anastasia said, were to get well, and
to see her graduate last June from the Harvard Business School. He
hoped his family would carry on his good works. ''Dad always told me,"
she said, ''to be a successful person in life, you have to help other
people be successful in theirs."
Besides his wife and daughter, Mr. Contos leaves a son, Yanni of
Wellesley; and a sister, Iasmine Chiotellis of Lincoln.
A funeral will be held today at 11 a.m. in the Chapel of the Holy
Cross, Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline. Burial will be
in Woodlawn Cemetery in Wellesley.
Today, his family and staff will do what Mr. Contos might not have
wanted: They will close the No Name from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in his
memory.
© Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company