Nicholas Christopher Sousounis was born on Veteran’s Day – November 11, 1957. Nick was born into a very Greek household in West Philadelphia. After his brother Peter came along a few years later, the family decided it was time to move to more open space. Upper Darby wasn’t too far away, but it offered better schools and a safer environment. Nick attended Bywood Elementary School, right across the street, Beverly Hills Junior High, right down the street, and Upper Darby High School (UDHS), about a mile away. Nick always did well scholastically – being drawn to many of the sciences – Biology, Geology, Chemistry – and to his real love, which was Mathematics.
It wasn’t all about academics for Nick, as he and his brother loved to play sports – football in particular – with their neighborhood friends. In addition to being a die-hard Philadelphia Eagles Fan, he was also quite enamored with the Minnesota Vikings, which to this day no one has been able to figure out why. Bicycling was also a big deal as he and his brother Peter would ride the Philly to Cape May 200 and go bicycle touring for weeklong trips to upstate New York by the time they were teenagers.
Nick and Peter usually found time to spend a part of their summers at the Jersey Shore (North Wildwood and Cape May), mainly hanging out with their cousin Andrea Tsapralis (daughter of Connie and Ethel Lazare) who was the closest thing to a sister either of them had – and they were like brothers to Andrea. The strong family ties that Nick felt for all his family members is something he kept throughout his life. The family was always important to Nick.
After graduating from Upper Darby High, Nick attended Drexel University in the Fall of 1975. He majored in Mechanical Engineering, where he was able to combine his love of science and math in an applied way. Nick stayed on for a Master’s Degree and then joined the workforce. He was adamant to find work locally, to stay near family. After graduating with his M.S.E. in June ’82, Nick started with General Electric (GE), where he worked as a Control Systems Analyst. About this time, Nick’s brother Peter married the lovely Maria Harris (Broomall, PA), and Nick became part of her extended Greek-Cypriot family. Nick would sometimes show up at Maria’s father’s (Harry Harris) house for dinner and conversation – even though Peter was not there. Nick held several positions after GE (some as far away as Virginia), all were challenging and leveraged his mathematical skills.
When Peter and Maria moved to the Boston area, Nick would make frequent trips to visit them and their children Katrina, Basil, and Christopher (now 15, 13, and 13), as well as other friends living in the area. At Christmas, Nick would bring the kids great mind-challenging games and toys. He was living up to his namesake.
The visits from Nick came to a grinding halt in the summer of 2011 when he suffered a near life-ending stroke. On Friday, March 3rd, 2017 Nick succumbed to complications from his stroke. Up until the very end, Nick retained his mental capabilities and loved visits from family and friends to discuss great childhood memories about football, bicycling, the Jersey Shore, and travel. Nick will always be very important to his Family. Services for Nick will be held on Monday, March 13th, 10-11:30 am, at McCrery & Harra Funeral Home, 3710 Kirkwood Highway, Wilmington, DE 19808.