Nicholas J. Lazos

Nick Lazos was born May 17, 1928, in the village of Stratsani (now called Pyrgos) in Epirus, Greece.  He came to the US in 1948 with his parents and two sisters after living through the difficulties of WWII and the Greek Civil War.  He enrolled in High School in New York City and learned perfect English by 1950, and was accepted to Columbia University.  He earned a Bachelors Degree in Electrical Engineering in 1954, and was hired by IBM.  He also married Athena Kelmis that same year.

He left IBM in 1956 and joined Kearfott, an aerospace company that developed and made inertial navigational systems for aircraft, missiles and spacecraft.  His proudest professional accomplishments were being the program manager for the first Space Shuttle, and the first Cruise Missile navigation systems.  He attended several launches of the Space Shuttle as a guest of NASA.

He had great passion for Greece, his home town, family, playing Greek music on his mandolin and dancing, and for his Greek Orthodox faith.

Nick Lazos is survived by his son James and daughter Joanne, and his sister Niki Papanicolaou.

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