Steve Cocalides

Steve Cocalides (a.k.a Stavros Kokkalidis), was born October 5, 1936 in Pireas, Greece. His family were immigrants from Asia Minor, evicted by the Turks in 1922. His father, a talented tailor, set up a successful garment factory and was able to provide Steve a good education. Steve’s first work was within that garment industry. He was introduced to his first love, Angelike Nestor, a Greek American studying music in Athens in the late 1950s by a client. They married in 1960, and moved to Los Angeles soon after, where Steve studied electronics technology and Angelike continued her master’s studies at UCLA. The couple had their first child in 1962.

Steve was the consummate entrepreneur, with careers in the garment industry and ladies’ footwear and apparel spanning two continents, real estate sales and development in west Florida and, even in retirement, a fishing gear design and sales venture. However, Steve was most proud of his first jobs, working in Quality Control for NASA contractors in the Los Angeles area during the Apollo program.

The couple had a second child in 1972 while the family was living in Greece, but business opportunities brought everyone back to the US. Steve settled the family in Miami, FL in 1977, where he would start and run a number of ladies footwear import ventures through the 1980’s. The marriage was not to last, and Steve left the family he started and moved to Pt. St. Lucie, where he started and ran a trendy Greek take-out called Lamb and Such. Ultimately, Steve settled in Pt. Charlotte, FL, re-married, and helped his wife Ana Vazquez raise her family while working real estate and development.

Steve is survived by his two natural children and their families, Stylian and wife Penny, and Fannie, her husband Orlando, and their daughter Zoila.