Evans Stergianis

Evans Stergianis, 89, of Stamford, passed away peacefully at his home on March 5, 2026. Born to Ioannis and Sophia Stergianis in the remote mountain region of Agrafa, mainland Greece, Evans showed an early and profound passion for learning. As a young boy, he would walk to the village school hoping to be admitted, only to be turned away for being too young. During World War II, when he was finally old enough to attend, communist partisans murdered the school’s teacher. Two years later the school reopened, and Evans quickly caught up, excelling as a gifted student with a particular talent for mathematics. One of his fondest high school memories was solving a problem involving the nine-point circle.

At 18, he moved to Toronto to join his brothers and taught himself English by studying the dictionary and the Bible from cover to cover, developing a remarkable vocabulary. He later settled in Chicago, where he married his beloved wife, Roula Mesoloras Stergianis. Together they raised two daughters, Sophia (Hartch) and Susanna (Wickham), nurturing in them a love of learning and a deep commitment to the Greek Orthodox faith. Evans took great pride in his daughters’ accomplishments: Susanna attended Northwestern University, while Sophia attended the University of Chicago, later earning her J.D. from the University of Michigan and her M.B.A. from New York University.

He eventually moved to Stamford to be near his granddaughters as they grew up. Nothing brought him greater joy than watching them flourish. He was especially pleased by their academic success: Phoebe Hartch, a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Daphne Hartch, currently a junior at Johns Hopkins University.

Largely self-taught in many subjects, Evans remained a lifelong learner. Among his happiest memories were a pilgrimage to the Holy Land with his wife and fellow church members in 2013 and a visit to the monasteries of Mount Athos in 2015. He often quoted a favorite line from Pericles’ Funeral Oration, as recorded by Thucydides: “We cultivate refinement without extravagance and knowledge without effeminacy.” He was also a skilled and enthusiastic card player.

Evans is survived by his loving wife, Roula; his daughters, Sophia and her husband Tim, and Susanna and her husband Chris; and his cherished granddaughters, Phoebe and Daphne. In addition to his parents, he was predeceased by his beloved siblings Mary, Panagiotis, Pantelis, and Vasiliki.