Spiros Nikiforos was born in 1937 in the village of Stavros on the island of Corfu, Greece. He was the youngest of 5 brothers and sisters (Dimitris, Prokopis, Eleni and Maria) born to Stefano and Polixeni Nikiforos. Growing up during World War 2 he, like many others of his generation, experienced many hardships. At a very young age he moved to Athens to live with his brother Dimitri and began to apprentice as a pastry chef. Eventually he joined the Greek Navy to complete his required military service and while in the Navy he was a member of their Naval Ceremonial band. After completing his service he along with his cousin Vasili emigrated to Amsterdam where they spent 3 years before he received permission to come to Canada in 1962. While waiting to catch his flight to Montreal he heard an announcement over the loud speaker asking for someone who spoke Greek to assist airport staff. Being the kind person he was he presented himself and was asked to interpret for a beautiful young woman who was on her way to Canada to join her brother. Along the way they chatted and when they arrived in Montreal he courted her and eventually married our mother Niki at St George’s Greek Orthodox Church in 1965. While in Montreal his favourite job was apprenticing as a pastry chef in the elegant and famous Queen Elizabeth Hotel. In early 1967 they decided to move to Toronto to pursue more opportunities and eventually later that year their first son was born (Dimitri). He saved and opened his first bakery/cafe in the city’s west end and Continental Bakery quickly became a meeting place for all new Greek immigrants. Eventually he sold the bakery and purchased another on the Danforth called Acropol Bakery and in 1976 had his second son Stefano. After many years he made his final sale and purchase by buying Hellenic Bakery in Scarborough. Along the way he trained several people in the art of baking and he won recognition for his award winning baklava and his touloumbes which would be ordered by the kilos and transported to places like Chicago, Rochester, Detroit and Quebec. All of this before the days of Amazon and online shopping. The long hard 15 hr days eventually melted away and he entered his long awaited retirement which had him spending long summers in Greece with his beloved wife Niki.

He loved his sports especially soccer and hockey and he lived and breathed with the exploits of his favourite teams AEK Athens and the Montreal Canadiens. One of his favourite pastimes was to watch his son Stefano’s soccer games and there are many stories of his exploits around the field. Later on he enjoyed spending time with his grandkids and watching them on the soccer fields. He was a family man who loved family functions and meals with his kids, his grandkids and daughters in law (Angela and Olivia). At most family gatherings he would always be caught trying to sneak food to the family dogs Niko and Lady.

In Jan of 2017 he lost his beloved wife of 50 + years Niki. Although heartbroken he battled on. His battle with Myelofibrosis began more than 8 years ago and he battled the disease as long as he could. The normal life expectancy of someone with advanced MF is 5 years yet he managed to surpass that and create many more memories with his family. He will always be remembered by us and everyone who met him as a kind, caring and loving gentleman who would always help anyone he could and never had a bad word to say about anyone. He is survived by his sons, Dimitri and Stefano, his daughters in law Angela and Olivia, his grand-kids Alexander and Christopher and his sisters Eleni and Maria. He will be missed dearly. May he rest in eternal peace and may God rest his soul.

In lieu of flowers the family asks that donations be made to the Leukemia Society of Canada. If making donations please add one of the two following email addresses jimnik@rogers.com or steve.nikiforos@gmail.com.