Content area
Full Text
Gus and Frances Stavros went out to lunch for a celebration the day they pledged $1-million in matching funds to Enterprise Village II last month.
On the way home from Largo to their condominium in downtown St. Petersburg, they passed by a number of fine restaurants and private clubs.
Finally they found what they were looking for - hamburgers and french fries at Wendy's.
That lack of pretension is typical, friends and colleagues say of the couple, both 73, who made millions when he sold his company, Better Business Forms Inc., in 1984 and subsequently have given most of those millions away.
"I don't believe in saving it, and waiting to give it away after my demise," Stavros said recently at their downtown St. Petersburg business office.
The couple declined to estimate just how much they have given to the community, saying only that it was "a considerable sum," but there are few cultural institutions in Pinellas County that haven't benefited from their generosity.
He is considered a driving force behind the development of Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater, where he lived for many years, spending a decade raising funds to build the performing arts center.
They are major donors of the Florida Orchestra, American Stage Theatre Company and the Museum of Fine Arts, where halls, courtyards and galleries bear the Stavros name.
But talk to Gus Stavros for just a few minutes, and it's clear that even though his motto for giving is "church, culture and education," his abiding passion is education.
"Of all the ills of the world, the only solution is education," Stavros said.
He would know.
Gus Stavros' father, Anthony, was born on the island of Crete in 1898. When Anthony Stavros was 9, his family "sold" him to a wealthy Athenian businessman who employed him as a gardener, sending his wages back to Crete. He ran away after a beating and worked odd jobs, saving enough to immigrate to the United States in 1912.
"My father came here because he was told - and really believed - that the streets were lined with gold. When he got here, he realized that they were lined with opportunity."
The young man, who spoke no English, worked as a dishwasher in Greek...