in Loving Memory of Koula (Kiriaki) Zachos

It is with great sadness that we announce the peaceful passing of Koula (Kiriaki) Zachos on June 28, 2025, at the age of 85 in Newmarket, Ontario. She was the beloved wife of the late Athanasios Zachos, with whom she shared 60 extraordinary years of marriage. Koula is survived by her three children: Constantine (Stacy), Marianthi (Eric), and Alexander (Voula); and her cherished eight grandchildren: Kassandra, Thomas, Victoria, Frederick, Zoe, George, Chloe, and Johanna.

Born on March 12, 1940, in Agiorgitika—a small village in the central Peloponnese region of southern Greece near Tripoli—Koula was the second of four daughters born to Constantine and Dimitra. She enjoyed a happy childhood shaped by modest means, helping her family tend their farm during a time of post-war hardship. The values of hard work, gratitude, and perseverance that she learned in those early years stayed with her for life.

At the age of 19, with unshakable determination, Koula made the long transatlantic voyage to Canada in search of greater opportunity, arriving in Halifax on May 4, 1959. It was a bold beginning to a life marked by strength and resilience. In those formative early years, she learned English and honed her skills in the dry-cleaning trade. Alongside her husband, through long hours and hard work they became successful small business owners and further expressed their entrepreneurial spirit through numerous real estate development ventures.

Koula’s green thumb and passion for gardening turned her home into a sanctuary of vibrant flower beds and thriving vegetable patches, which she lovingly tended with pride and joy. She found peace among her gardens which bloomed as beautifully as the life she cultivated around her.

Family was everything to Koula. Becoming a “yiayia” was her greatest joy, and her grandchildren were the light of her life. Her home was always filled with the wonderful aromas of her incredible Greek cooking, and you were never full in her eyes, always encouraging just a few more bites and never taking no for an answer.
Koula was a woman of deep faith. She and her husband were pillars of the St. Panteleimon, Anna and Paraskevi Greek Orthodox Church in Markham and in their younger years at the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church. It was this faith that gave her the strength and the courage to live her life fearlessly, always trusting in the Lord to see her through. She instilled this faith in her children and grandchildren, always encouraging their active participation in their church and community. While her passing leaves an immeasurable void, her legacy of courage, love, service and generosity lives on in the hearts of all who knew and loved her.

The family kindly requests, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Thomas C. Zachos Chair in Mitochondrial Research at the University of Toronto. The link is provided below. All donations go directly to the fund and donors are automatically emailed a tax receipt.

University of Toronto (utoronto.ca)
(https://engage.utoronto.ca/site/SPageServer?pagename=donate#/fund/571)