Greek American entrepreneur and philanthropist George Marcus donated recently one million dollars for the renovation of a historic Orthodox church and a Greek school in Constantinople (today’s Istanbul).
Marcus, born Moutsanas, a Greek-American self-made billionaire real estate mogul was born in Evia, Greece, in 1941, and immigrated to the US with his family in 1945, at the age of four years old.
His donation of $500,000 for the restoration of the Church of Panagia at Pera which was originally built in 1804 shows that despite his immense business success, he has not forgotten his hellenic roots and heritage.
The Church of Panagia at Pera honors the name of Virgin Mary at the Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple. It is the oldest church in the district of Pera. The church was built by the authorization of Sultan Selim III by Architect Chatzis Comnenos Kalfas. Over time it was expanded and took its current form of five – aisled basilica.
Another $500,000 contributes to fund phase two of the Maraslios Renovation Project. Maraslios, a Greek Primary School, was built by Greek merchant Grigoris Maraslis who was the mayor of Odessa and one of the richest people in the Ukrainian city. He not only built the school but also covered all the educational expenses of the Greek students of Istanbul.
George Marcus’ commitments to the Orthodox Church
“A group of friends and I visited Constantinople a few years ago and we found out about the problems these two Greek institutions had,” George Marcus told Greek Reporter.
“The father of our church, [Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew] briefed us about his concerns about the future of the damaged buildings.” he told Greek Reporter.
Then, he decided to take action and help in their restoration. Marcus has a wide range of causes for the Orthodox Church and the Hellenic community under his belt. They include the Patriarch Athenagoras Orthodox Institute, the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of San Francisco, International Orthodox Christian Charities, Leadership 100, and Elios Society of Northern California.
“I decided to make a commitment to approximately $500,000 to start fixing the buildings. And then time went by and they needed some additional support. Our local metropolitan, Metropolitan Gerasimos [Metropolitan of San Franscisco] is a wonderful person, and was instrumental in connecting me with the Patriarchate and of course I was happy to support the cause. My mother was churchgoer and i remember her taking me as a child to the Church. I grew up with her taking me to Church.” the Greek American said.
He added that despite the bureaucratic problems he encountered transferring funds to Turkey “we got it done” and had a big event on the 29th of August and the 1st of September.
Speaking to Greek Reporter he lamented the fact that he was not able to attend the events in Istanbul.
“My wife was coming with me, and she got sick at the last minute, and so I couldn’t leave her. And so I did not make the opportunity to be there with – there must have been 100 metropolitans and bishops from all over the country, all over the world, and I feel very badly about missing that.”
The Ecumenical Patriarch expressed gratitude to Archbishop Elpidophoros of America for his significant contributions and presented an honorary plaque on behalf of the Community to George Marcus. The plaque was received by Metropolitan Gerasimos of San Francisco on Marcus’s behalf.
Marcus’ philanthropic work
Marcus founded and serves as the Chairman Emeritus of the National Hellenic Society. The Organization brings together distinguished Greek Americans on a national level to preserve their heritage and through the Heritage Greece Program® (HG) send accomplished Greek American college students to Greece for cultural immersion.
He was invested as an Archon on February 24, 1991, and conferred with the offikion Exarchos. He is a fulfilled Founder of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew Foundation.
Marcus and his wife Judy donated $3 million to help found SFSU’s International Center for the Arts. In 2017, Marcus donated $1 million to Hellenic College Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology.
In 2018, George and Judy Marcus donated $25 million to SFSU to establish the George and Judy Marcus Funds for Excellence in the Liberal Arts. The funds will support students and faculty in liberal and creative art programs at the school and make enhancements in its Department of Creative Writing and the School of Cinema. This donation follows a $1.8 million donation the year before to establish an athletics scholarship fund at the school.
In 2020, Marcus donated $2 million to the reconstruction of the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church at the World Trade Center in New York City, adding to the $1 million that he had previously donated.
Marcus is mainly in the real estaate business. He has two public companies and four private companies. But he also owns two successful restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area, Evvoia in Palo Alto and Kokkari, in downtown San Francisco. He admits he spent time thinking about Greek food before he opened the restaurants, but he tells Greek Reporter about what Greece can improve to further promote Greek cuisine:
“Greece, of all the countries in Europe, does not have official training for Greek cuisine chefs. It’s the only country, even Italy does. France has 100 or 1,000. The Brits do. Everybody has training to teach people because running a restaurant is different than cooking for 10 people at home. We have such a unique cuisine but no formal culinary schools.”
