Remembering Nicholas Kocoris: Greek chef and loving father

As a child, Nicholas Kocoris never wore shoes. He never went to school and lived in a village without water. Born into extreme poverty before the start of World War II, Kocoris learned from a young age how to earn his keep while growing up away from his family and everything he once held familiar.

"He taught himself to write and read in both Greek and English, but cooking was instinctual to him and he learned a lot from his travels," said Kocoris' daughter, Stamatina "Tina" Kocoris, of East Norwich.

The Levittown resident died on July 28 from natural causes at the age of 90.

Nicholas Kocoris was born on March 6, 1935, in Richea, Greece, a village outside Sparta. The youngest of eight children, he lost his father at age 6. Unable to feed him, Kocoris' mother sent him at 11 to live with a