Mary Helen Pazar

Mary Pazar passed away on March 20, 2025 in Miami, Florida, 2 weeks before her 99th birthday. She was born in New York City on April 2, 1926, the daughter of Angelos and Mersina Siderelis, who immigrated from Limnos, Greece in the early 1900’s. She grew up and spent her formative years in New York City along with her dear brother, James, who predeceased her. Mary worked as an Administrative Assistant as a young adult. In 1953, she married Sam Pazar, who was also of Greek parents, and they moved to Newburyport, Massachusetts where their son, Steve, was born in 1955. A few years later, they relocated to Gainesville, Florida when Sam was offered a position as an Engineer and where their daughter Carol was born in 1958. Eventually they settled in St Petersburg and then Treasure Island, Florida, where they lived most of their lives.

They traveled a lot around the US on road trips with their family and many other places throughout the world. Mary enjoyed gardening and the outdoors. Later in life, they would spend the Fall and Winter months in Florida and the Spring and Summer months at their house in Fontana, North Carolina, where they enjoyed the mountain life. Mary was keen on staying active and enjoyed walking. Her friends would see her out walking every day, whether it was around her neighborhood in Treasure Island or walking across the Fontana Dam Bridge in North Carolina. Even later in her life when she could barely stand, she would insist on walking every day.

Mary loved to cook for her family. She was the typical Greek Mother that especially liked watching everyone enjoy her food, and no matter how much you ate, she would always say “eat more, eat more”. She taught us all her recipe for spanakopita, which everyone agreed was the best spinach pie in the world. Her grandchildren especially liked her yellow box cake with chocolate frosting, and she made sure to always have it there when they came to visit.

Her husband, Sam, passed in 2018 and later she lived with her daughter and son-in-law in Miami. She is survived by her 2 children - Carol Espinosa and Steve Pazar, their spouses Manny and Tami, her three grandchildren, Romulo, Nicholas, Ricky, her 4 great grandchildren, Lucas, Avery, Auggie and Sam, and daughter-in-law’s Jessica and Veronica. Mary was outgoing and friendly to everyone. She will be dearly missed by her family and all her loving friends.

Funeral Service

Monday, March 31, 2025 at 12:00 Noon

St. Andrew Greek Orthodox Church

7901 N Kendall Drive

Miami, Fl 33156