TARPON SPRINGS - Longtime Tarpon Springs High School teacher Peter J. Lelekis Jr. died Monday (June 23, 2003) after fighting pancreatic cancer for more than a year. He was 50.
Lelekis taught biology, ecology, physics, chemistry and drivers education in Pinellas County for 28 years, 20 at Tarpon Springs High. As adviser to the school's environmental club, he worked with students during the late 1980s to plant mangroves on spoil islands in the Anclote River.
"He was real concerned about ecology," former Tarpon Springs High assistant principal Christy Richards said. "He loved his community, he loved his school, and that was his life."
Lelekis was born in Athens, Greece, while his father was an attache at the U.S. embassy there. He attended elementary school in Frankfurt, Germany, and spent summer vacations in other parts of Europe. He graduated from Tarpon Springs High School and the University of Florida.
Lelekis not only taught about the environment but worked to preserve it as a City Commission candidate in 1983.
"I love the outdoors," he said during the campaign. "I remember when you could hunt within the Tarpon Springs city limits."
Lelekis lost a quiet, well-mannered campaign.
"I don't even remember that," said the winner of that race, Anita Protos. "It was so low-key. He was a very fine young man, and he had a deep religious faith, and he lived his faith."
Lelekis served on the Tarpon Springs Planning and Zoning Board and was a member of the Lord of Life Church in Holiday.
He is survived by a son, Angelo Lelekis of Tampa; two brothers, John Lelekis of Sebastian and Emmanuel Lelekis of Calhoun, Ga.; a sister, Eve Lelekis of Tarpon Springs; two nieces and one nephew. Visitation is scheduled for 7 to 9 tonight at Thomas B. Dobies Funeral Home, 701 E Tarpon Ave., with a funeral at 11 a.m. Friday at First United Methodist Church of Tarpon Springs. Burial will follow at Cycadia Cemetery.
