Catering pioneer James Stratigos of North Huntingdon dead at 86

James Stratigos of North Huntingdon was always busy.

The caterer, who died Tuesday at the age of 86, was a generous person and a hard worker who loved to help others, according to his son, Harry Stratigos.

As head of Stratigos Catering, the family business he founded in 1957, Mr. Stratigos fed countless people at weddings, events, funerals and even as the onetime exclusive caterer of Kennywood. His scratch cooking, employee mentorship and kindness made him a role model to many, his son said.

“He always said if you do what you love, it’s not work,” Harry said. “He was a man that loved to be in business, but he also enjoyed being able to take care of people.”

Mr. Stratigos was a Greek immigrant who came to the United States at age 13. According to his son George, his father learned English to some extent by watching movies. He and his father ran their earliest catering business out of the basement of his home in White Oak in 1957, beginning with a hollowed out 1949 Packard.

His family name, Stratigos, means “general,” which was the inspiration for the name of one of his restaurants, General Jim’s.

“He was a workaholic, but he told me, ‘George, you have got to have determination and satisfaction.’ He just loved what he did,” George said, and recalled a few of his father’s many food specialties: a “perfect” hoagie and a mushroom, onion and provolone cheese sandwich he called the MOP. “He was a catering pioneer.”

Mr. Stratigos’ business eventually expanded to include a fleet of more than 20 trucks, and catered for the Gateway Clipper fleet and Kennywood before the park’s owners took over the food operation in 1996. In between, he catered many gatherings and events, sometimes feeding thousands of people at once.

“We peeled the potatoes, we cooked fresh chicken,” said Mr. Stratigos’ wife, Stella. “Everything was from scratch. We didn’t have anything frozen.”

Harry recalled a moment in the ’80s when one of his father’s employees accidentally broke a large, room-sized rotating oven. Mr. Stratigos jumped into action.

“The whole oven jammed up. I remember my dad getting his welding jacket on,” he said. “It was 300 degrees in that oven, and there was an access door, and he just started throwing pans out of the oven (to unblock it) The guy who caused it was sitting there crying, and my dad came out and put an arm around him and said, ‘Don’t worry, it could happen to anybody.’ ”

After selling the catering business, Mr. Stratigos was able to focus on Stratigos Banquet Centre on Colonial Manor Road in North Huntingdon, an events center that opened in 2003 and can hold up to 600 people.

Harry continues to operate the banquet center and purchased another banquet center in January at 544 Caruthers Lane. He renamed it “The James Room,” after his father.

“He wanted to help people as much as he could,” Harry said. “On the same token, he couldn’t sit still. He was never content with what he had, work-wise. He always wanted to take it to the next level. Whatever he put his mind to, he would get done.”

Even in his time outside of work, Stratigos was a kind person who “liked to feed people,” according to his daughter Roula Kyros. He instilled the importance of a good work ethic, she said.

“One thing that always stands out is when there was someone who was ill and maybe didn’t have a good prognosis, he would always say to them, ‘What can I cook for you?’ ” Kyros said. “He would start his morning off, every time you talked to him, he would say it in Greek and it rhymed, but in English, it means ‘Good morning, may you shine all day.’ ”

His mentorship and care was not limited to family. Employees who worked for him learned about finances alongside their cooking duties, Harry said. Families who hired Stratigos Catering would stick with the company for multiple generations of weddings and events.

“He took a lot of pleasure in educating the younger people about finances and saving money,” he said. “To this day, there are people I’ll see who worked for my dad 30-40 years ago, and they said that they wouldn’t be where they are today if it wasn’t for him giving them guidance.”

“He showed me that anything you put your mind to, you accomplish,” said daughter Maria Sacoolas. “He was such a giving person, and always taught us to humble ourselves and do good for others.”