Jimmy Hadjis, center, poses with Stuart Spotts, left, and Bob Marvin during an open house at the American Legion Post 326 in Lake Placid in March 2023. (News photo — Lauren Yates)

LAKE PLACID — Leondas “Jimmy” Hadjis, longtime chef and owner of the Charcoal Pit Restaurant, spent most of his life giving back to the community that he was so grateful for, both in and out of the kitchen. Hadjis died on Tuesday, May 20 at the age of 89.

Hadjis was born on Feb. 6, 1936, in Lake Placid, to Greek parents — Eugenia and James Hadjis who had both migrated to this village. His father moved to Lake Placid in 1928, according to his obituary. He became the chef of the old Lakeside Hotel and opened his own restaurant, LeBourget, in 1935, but it was in 1957 that he opened the business that the family is still known — the Charcoal Pit Restaurant, on Saranac Avenue, where the Placid Pond Plaza is currently located.

One of Hadjis’ proudest childhood memories was playing on Lake Placid’s first Pee Wee hockey team in 1947. At first, the team didn’t even have their own jerseys, so the New York Rangers — who at the time practiced in Lake Placid for a few months in the fall — gave them some hand-me-down equipment.

In 1949, the Pee Wee team was invited to play in the first National Pee Wee Hockey Tournament at Madison Square Garden in New York City. This was a story he loved to tell, his daughter Angela Tzamouranis said on Tuesday, June 3.

“He said they lost, but it didn’t matter,” she said.

Jimmy Hadjis poses outside the Charcoal Pit Restaurant with his daughter, Angela. (Provided photo)

Instead, Hadjis remembers being in awe of the city and the venue. Many years later, he wrote about how grateful he was for the support of his small town.

“As Lake Placid has always done, they raised enough money to buy the team new uniforms, gloves, etc. — only the skates were not new,” Hadjis wrote. “And now, 60 years later, I am proud of the fact that our town cared enough to raise the money and send us off looking like a hockey team.”

Hadjis attended the public schools in Lake Placid but finished his last two years at Northwood School, graduating in 1955. He joined the U.S. Army, staying in the reserves until 1963, and graduated from Paul Smith’s College in 1958 with a degree in hotel and restaurant management. Then he came home to work at the family restaurants.

In the early 1960s, Hadjis went back to Greece for a short visit with his extended family. That’s when he met his wife, Efrosini “Francine” Karatonis. She’s from a smaller town about an hour outside of Athens.

“He came to Greece only for six weeks, but he met me and he can’t leave because he got in love right away,” Francine said.

Jimmy Hadjis (center, front row) played goalie in the Lake Placid Pee Wee hockey team that attended the first National Pee Wee Hockey Tournament at Madison Square Garden in 1949. (Provided photo)

Instead, he stayed for six months, married Francine in 1964 and brought her home to Lake Placid. They were married for 61 years. Their daughter is married to Yannis Tzamouranis, and they have two children, Sage and Jade.

“We’ve been very happy. We loved each other like …” Francine searched for words. “When we were young to the time he died, we’re very close.”

In fact, in all that time, Francine never spent a night without him.

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A life of hospitality

A Hometown Heroes banner for Lake Placid’s Jim Hadjis hangs on Main Street in June 2020. (News photo — Andy Flynn)

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There’s one thing to know about Jimmy — he never said “no.”

“It was not in his vocabulary,” Tzamouranis said. “He would rather do without than say ‘no’ if somebody needs help.”

His commitment to service is evident in the long list of organizations that he belonged to: the Masonic Lodge 834 for 58 years, the Oriental Shriners for 57 years, the Lake Placid Lions Club for 41 years and the American Legion Post 326 for seven years, just to name a few. Along with hosting numerous benefit meals at the Charcoal Pit, he was also instrumental in starting and running the free luncheons that were held at the Adirondack Community Church.

Dan Wikoff succeeded Jimmy as the King Lion of the Lake Placid Lions Club in 2020. He remembers Jimmy’s commitment to the club, always showing up to events even when he wasn’t super mobile.

Jimmy Hadjis and his wife Efrosini “Francine” Karatonis are pictured around the time they met. They were married six months later in 1964. (Provided photo)

“He was a community-oriented man, he was very much a gentleman,” Wikoff said. “He was a great man who thought a lot about family and community.”

For 25 of his years in the Lions Club, Jimmy played Santa Claus at the annual Christmas party for children at the Palace Theatre. He was so committed to the role that he owned his own Santa suit.

Stuart Spotts of the American Legion remembers that Jimmy was always willing to volunteer, always showing up and helping with whatever needed to be done, even in his old age.

“He just loved Lake Placid, he loved the community, he loved giving back,” Spotts said.

At the Charcoal Pit — his workplace for 55 years — there was a steady stream of customers who would make a point to go talk to him in the kitchen. Tzamouranis said he loved to cook and was always trying new recipes. He would regularly leave his post in the kitchen to greet customers.

Jimmy Hadjis sits with his two granddaughters, Sage and Jade Tzamouranis. (Provided photo)

“He was a very, very social person,” Tzamouranis said. “Every story he ever told me would start with, ‘Me and the guys.’ And the guys were always different in each story, but it was ‘Me and the guys.'”

Tzamouranis said her parents didn’t have a mailbox until last year. He didn’t particularly want one because he preferred to go to the post office and chat instead.

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Proud father

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Many of Tzamouranis’ early memories of her father revolve around the restaurant. He worked intense hours, often getting up early in the morning to receive deliveries at the restaurant and sometimes staying until 1 in the morning after closing up the restaurant.

“He worked so hard at the restaurant,” she said, “but he wanted to hang out with me, too. So he would bring me to the restaurant with him when he worked.”

When she got bored at the restaurant, Tzamouranis remembers riding the vacuum cleaner as the staff cleaned.

Jimmy was an unconditionally supportive father. Tzamouranis is a silversmith and goldsmith who owns her own jewelry business, and she learned the craft by teaching herself. She looks back now at her early work with a critical eye, but to her father, even her first steps were beautiful.

“I could have come home from college and said, ‘I’m dropping out and joining the circus because I’ve gotten really good at juggling.'” Tzamouranis joked. “And he would have been like, ‘would it make you happy?'”

Jimmy was also very close with, and very proud of, his two granddaughters.

Indeed, the Hadjis home is a testament to how proud he was. Nearly every surface — tables, bookshelves and the mantlepiece — is packed with decorative frames with photos of the family. Jimmy is in many of the photos, and at every age, his smile is unmistakable.

Jimmy Hadjis played Santa for 25 years at the Lions Club annual Christmas party, often alongside his wife Francine as Mrs. Claus. (Provided photo)