Obituary:  Gerasimos Xenophon Santas

Born:  March 23, 1931

Died:  June 20, 2021 at age 90

Gerasimos Santas was born and raised on Lefkada, a Greek island in the Ionian Sea.  His father, Xenophon Santas, was a carpenter, and his mother, Stomata Lazaris, was from a village in the mountains.   Gerasimos lived through difficult war times and deprivation in Greece with his parents and older brother until he was 18, when he came to America to get an education. Gerasimos was fascinated by and enamored with America and henceforth went by his new American name: "Jerry," much easier to pronounce!

Gerasimos attended Knox College as an undergraduate in political science, where he also met his first wife, Joan Foster.  The couple then attended Cornell University together, where Gerasimos got a PhD in philosophy. They had two children, Diane and Christopher. Gerasimos had an illustrious academic career which included teaching at UC Berkeley, Brandeis University, Wellesley College, Johns Hopkins University, Claremont Graduate University, Stanford, and finally at UC Irvine.  He was a well-known and respected Plato scholar and published many articles and books while at UCI.  He also had far-reaching and multi-disciplinary intellectual interests, including in psychology, genetics and evolution.  His most recent article published after retirement is on the Ethics of CRISPR, a gene editing technology.

Gerasimos re-married and is survived by his loving wife and companion of 42 years, Ann Santas, and by his devoted children, stepchildren, in-laws, and grandchildren: Diane Santas and David Sharp, Christopher Santas and Nancy Bialek, Brian Hofstetter, Loralie and Doug Dunlap, Wayne Hofstetter and Rosa Hwang, , and grandchildren Brandon, Nicole, Gabrielle (Gabby), Alexandra (Lexi), Cozette, Amanda, Kai and Avery. His older brother Constantine Santas, age 92, lives in St. Augustine Florida with his wife Mary.  His surviving niece and nephews, Christiana, Xenophon and Aristotle Santas and their children are affectionately referred to by the family as the "East Coast Santases". In the words of his brother, "Gerasimos cast a giant shadow.  He was the first to come to America and his success and hard work- aside from all his distinctions—had an effect on all of us."  Gerasimos was much loved and will be sorely missed.  As a friend noted, "The world will be a less interesting place without him."