Off the Clock: Houston’s John Zavitsanos Still Connected to Greek Roots

By Jessica Huseman, contributing writer

John Zavitsanos left Greece with his parents when he was eight years old, but that doesn’t mean he left his Greek heritage behind. The partner at Houston’s AZA speaks Greek, has traveled across the globe doing traditional Greek dancing and has received the highest honor the Greek Orthodox Church can bestow on a layman.

Zavitsanos said he still keeps up his ties to his Greek heritage because of the values it has instilled both in him and his children, including their hard-working nature (he estimates that less than 1 percent of Greek-Americans are unemployed), their close ties to the community, and their emphasis on education.

“Perhaps the most important reason for my pride is that Greek-Americans — as a whole — place an extraordinary emphasis on education above everything else,” he said. “The highest compliment you can pay to another Greek is to say that someone is ‘morfomenos.’ The closest translation of this word is someone who is cultured and educated.”

He also said being Greek “helped in opening doors” in his career.

“There are many successful Greeks at many large companies throughout the state. It is relatively easy for me to get an audience with them because I am Greek, but I need to perform at the highest level if we are to keep them as a client,” he said.

His fluency in Greek has also been beneficial, as he has handled several cases for Greek companies with litigation pending in the United States.

“I was able to engender an immediate level of trust because I spoke the same language as the decision makers at those companies. Speaking a second language also enables you to think in an entirely different universe,” he said. “Sometimes, ideas come to me during trial in Greek!”

Zavitsanos’ wife and four children also speak fluent Greek, and the children attend afternoon Greek School through their church. In fact, before their oldest child attended preschool, she didn’t even speak English.

“My wife and I figured that she would pick up English immediately (which she did in less than 2 months), but that it would be difficult for her to learn Greek later. As a result, we only spoke to her in Greek before she began school,” he said.

Though his children weren’t born in Greece, they consider the Greek island of Lefkada home just as much as they do Houston. The family owns two homes on Lefkada, — one is located in the main town in a regular neighborhood, the other sits atop a cliff and overlooks the sea.

While Greece is going through economic turmoil, Zavitsanos said that hasn’t affected their ability to go back, and he has an optimistic outlook on what is a bleak time in Greece.

“The current economic crisis is a result of too much dependence by the population on the state. Prior to the current crisis, more than 30% of all working adults worked for the government. This unfortunately created an entitlement mentality that is now difficult to shake,” he said. “Ultimately, I think Greece will pull out of this. Although things look bleak now, we have previously been in far worse shape during our 3,000 year history.”

In the times between his travels back to Greece, Zavitsanos is happy to build his Greek heritage in his adopted home of Houston.

In the early 90s, Zavitsanos and his wife were part of an international dance group that traveled to Greece twice to perform in international dance festivals. They danced with the group at the Greek Festival in Houston every year until the late 90s.

Zavitsanos is also highly active in the Greek Orthodox Church, and was named an Archon of the Ecumenical Patriarchate (the equivalent of the Papacy in the Catholic Church) — the highest honor that a member of the laity can receive.

Out of 300 million Orthodox Christians around the world, there are only 800 Archons. Their singular mission is to protect the Ecumenical Patriarchate, something that Zavitsanos has done in droves.

“I have served as legal counsel to the Ecumenical Patriarch at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France and have also served as a member of the negotiating team between the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Turkish government for the return of over 1,000 pieces of real property that the Turkish government has confiscated over the last 50 years,” he said.

Assuming Zavitsanos ever retires, he and his wife have discussed extensively the possibility of moving back to Greece.

“Every first generation Greek has thoughts about moving back to Greece at some point in their life,” he said. “It certainly is easier for me to do that since I own property there.”

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