On Monday, around 400 mourners gathered at London’s Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church to honor Sam Panopoulos, the London, Ont., restaurant owner who popularized pineapple as a pizza topping.
Panopoulos, 83, passed away last week at University Hospital. He is survived by his wife, Christina, with whom he recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary, and their two children.
Attendees at the church remembered Panopoulos as a devoted family man and a pillar of the Greek community. Panopoulos immigrated to Canada in 1954 with little money and, along with his brothers, successfully operated restaurants in London and Chatham.
Panopoulos is best known for his innovation in the early 1960s when he added pineapple to pizza at his restaurant. Despite some pizza purists’ disapproval of this sweet topping on a savory dish, pineapple has become a popular choice on pizza menus globally.
The debate over pineapple on pizza made headlines in February when Iceland’s President Guðni Th. Jóhannesson stated that pineapple did not belong on pizza. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau defended the topping, tweeting, “I have a pineapple. I have a pizza. And I stand behind this delicious Southwestern Ontario creation.”
On Monday, however, mourners focused on Panopoulos’s contributions beyond his culinary innovation. They spoke of his generosity in helping fellow Greek immigrants integrate into their new country.
“All the newcomers, he was helping them, he was placing them [in jobs], he was embracing them,” said friend Basile Hacetoglu, who met Panopoulos in Chatham in the 1960s. Hacetoglu described Panopoulos as a visionary who always looked toward the future.
Hacetoglu recalled Panopoulos’s lasting impact: “You cannot forget Sam after you meet him. I bet you even the clients that he received in his business still remember him, especially his smile and his laugh. His voice was always resonant.”