Antonios M. Kounalakis was a fearless and honorable man. Born in 1923 in the village of Vrysses, Apokoronou near Chania on the Greek island of Crete, Antonios was the first of four brothers. He had skilled hands, a nimble mind, and an unquenchable thirst for freedom. In 1941, he fought Nazis in the Battle of Crete and continued the battle as an underground guerilla against their occupation army. At great personal peril, Antonios widely distributed anti-Nazi propaganda leaflets and later fought with British commando Patrick Leigh Fermor. He showed moral courage in a multitude of ways, shouldering his family’s war burden while simultaneously uplifting other men’s spirits, and his honor and moral stand remained forever paramount.

Antonios moved with his wife Vasiliki from Crete in 1954 to San Francisco, California, establishing his roots there and working for over sixty years in the trucking industry. He was a sage mentor to many in the Greek diasporic community and served as General Secretary of the National Pancretan Association in the 1960s and multiple terms as President of his local Epimenides/Ariadne chapter from the 1970s to 1990s. In 2012, Antonios was given the Greatest Generation Award at the National WWII Memorial in Washington, DC.

Unschooled but well educated in the ancient Greek classics and philosophy, Antonios maintained a strong and clear perspective on the ephemeral beauty of life and the immeasurable value of giving back to one’s community. Antonios understood the importance of family, honor, democracy, and freedom. His life revolved around the Greek terms of philotimo and philoxenia. Antonios always emphasized that the gift of life was precious and that it should never be taken for granted. He embraced everyone he met, and he stands as an example of what it means to be a kind, civic-minded, authentically good person in our world. Even when faced with adversity, he would find the silver lining.

Antonios brought his Greek-born-and-cultivated strength, clarity, and love to his adopted United States and left this world in 2018 as a proud American patriot. The United States gave him a new life, a healthy family, work opportunities, and precious freedom. In return, he gave us all an example of how to humbly live a meaningful and impactful life, leaving a legacy of kindness and good deeds for generations to come.