From Produce to Politics

FROM PRODUCE TO POLITICS

THE STORY OF GEORGE ZEGOURAS

George Adam Zegouras was born on December 22, 1937, in Arcadia, Greece, to proud parents Adam and Maria Zegouras. He came to Belleville in 1954 and began working for the Dominion grocery store before he and his brother Peter launched their own wholesale food company, Belleville Foods, in the mid-1960s. He also had the Family Restaurant on Dundas near Foster and several rental properties around town. George’s political career began in 1973 when he was appointed to the city council.

He remained as an alderman until 1980, until sworn in as Mayor of the City of Belleville in 1991. He was a successful businessman and entrepreneur. He again held the Mayoral Office after the election of 2000. He was a council member for 21 years, and Belleville’s longest-serving Mayor.

His legacy will live on with the Zegouras family’s donation of one of Belleville’s Heritage Buildings at Victoria Avenue and Church Street to the Healthy Space housing project. This 4000-square foot Victorian home, complete with a two-storey carriage house, was built in 1880 by a local physician and will be a home for those with complex physical and mental health-related issues.

Please join me in sharing some memories of this very unique, charismatic individual who did so much for our community.

Story as told by Chris Malette, City Hall Reporter
“As a sitting city councillor and a longtime news reporter whose beat was City Hall for more than ten years, the walls whisper to me every time I enter that stunning edifice. The spirit filling the place is the former Mayor and my dear friend George Zegouras.

We weren’t always pals, as I’d spared him no mercy when penning a piece for the Intell in which I thought ole Georgie Zee’s leash needed a little tug, but those were few and far between. See, George was a guy who was very hard not to like.

Whenever I walked Front Street with George, I was astounded that he knew almost everyone he met and remembered their name. That, my friends, is the mark of a successful politician and George had charisma in spades. He could be nasty, even occasionally spiteful for a political foe, but one rarely saw him publicly vent that bit of his spleen. He saved the shiv for much more subtle and spare moments.

He wore his heart on his sleeve for those who came to him, saying some segment of the City or group, individual or agency needed attention from city hall. He later had one more go-round as Mayor in 2000, and that’s when I came to know him as a tireless advocate for Belleville.

I good-naturedly told him he made my life hell trying to decipher some of his “George-isms” when writing up an address or quoting him in print.

When George finally left politics for good in the early 2000s, they threw a Greek-themed clambake for him at the Greek Hall, and a bit of a roast was part of the program. Nervously, I decided it would be spits n giggles to poke fun at some of the George isms we scribes had noted over the years.  I printed up placards to phonetically recall some of his gems – SYWOKS for sidewalks, TENGINENGA for Tyendinaga, and other familiar George isms. The Zegouras table, with the whole family in tow, was seated right below the dais, and I was worried they’d take offence. The total opposite occurred as I looked down to see the entire table howling with laughter, wiping away tears they’d shed and sharing their mirth.

Whenever he’d ask me to visit his office on Campbell Street, with the walls festooned with keys for the various rental apartments and houses he had around town, I’d walk in and ask, “How’s my favourite slumlord?.”

The answer was always a laugh, an unprintable epithet followed by a greeting to “sit your ass down, what’s going on in town, these days?”
George was, like many politicians and journalists, an inveterate gossip. And he had to have the latest. Always!

George and his beloved wife Diane would host their fabled Christmas receptions at their East Hill home. I learned where you stood on the pecking order in town if A) you got an invitation to the reception and B) if you were an A-list guest or a B-list guest.

There were two parties. One began at 3 p.m., and guests shuffled out at about 5 to
make way for the evening reception – the A-listers – at 6 or 7 p.m.
Designated a B-lister, I never saw the evening event! Their kids acted as coat-hangers, greeters, waiters and waitresses for the events. I’d heard the drinks were more robust and the food a notch above par for the evening soiree, but I never found out on my own.

That big old house was also home to some fine civic receptions where Diane would furiously set a feast for visiting dignitaries. I recall the towering figure of Herr Werner Deitz, Lord Mayor of Lahr, Germany and his delegation whenever the Friendship Flights were in Belleville. When I mentioned to the recent delegates from Lahr, visiting Belleville earlier in May 2022, that I remembered Herr Deitz, their eyes grew large at the mention of the legendary Mayor of their Black Forest city in Germany.

When Diane died in 1999, it was as though the soul had been pulled from George’s chest. I recall that morning, at The Intell newsroom, hearing of the sad news. I volunteered to go to George’s home to retrieve a photo of Diane for our news story on her passing.

I met a grief-stricken George and his cousin Peter, who was there trying to console his beloved George. It was too much for the three of us, and we wept in each other’s arms at the profound sadness we were feeling.

Oh, he was gregarious, fun, funny and could be your best friend or your fiercest enemy – but George Zegouras left a significant, indelible mark on this City, and I was proud to call him my friend.” Chris Malette

Thank you so much, Chris, for in your own words, sharing this beautiful tribute to your friend George Zegouras with us!

His plaque stands proudly at the gates of the GEORGE ZEGOURAS MARKET SQUARE and reads:

‘George Zegouras is remembered as being a tireless supporter of the City of Belleville with countless hours spent promoting the City wherever he went. His charisma with citizens and visitors alike is a major hallmark of his legacy. He loved this City of Belleville and its people.

George Adam Zegouras 1937- 2012