Nicholas Karant
Nicholas Karant Obituary
Nicholas Karant, 89, of Mountainside, NJ, passed away peacefully on February 3, 2024, at Morristown Medical Center after contracting a rare debilitating auto immune disease that began with a bad fall early October, 2023.
The Memorial Service and Celebration of life will be held in Nicholas’s honor:
Sunday, March 10, 2024, at 1:00 pm
The First United Methodist Church
One East Broad Street
Westfield, New Jersey 07060
Immediately following the service, there will be a celebration of life party,
catered “Nicholas style” at the Karants’ home until 8:00 p.m.
395 Park Slope
Mountainside, New Jersey
Join us at the Memorial Service and/or the
Celebration of Life party to be part of Nicholas’s remembrance.
Throughout the years, Nicholas always spoke of making a big party in his memory when he was gone. His wish can only be fulfilled by your presence.
RSVP by March 5th by text or voice message at: 908-377-2177
In the Greek-Orthodox religion, it is believed the soul lingers on Earth until the 40th day and it is customary for everyone to pay their respects on the forty-day memorial. The 40-day tradition is a way to bring families and friends together. Please join us at this sad but happy time when we can all come together to remember the big hearted, fun loving Nicholas, enjoy his favorite drinks and cuisines while reminiscing how he touched our lives.
Charitable Donations:
In lieu of flowers, please donate to a charily that speaks Nicholas' sentiments: the Food Bank of Elizabeth that feeds the hungry and the poor to receive all offerings made to celebrate Nicholas's life. Donations can be made online, in person or by mail:
St. Joseph Social Service Center
Food Bank
118 Division Street
Elizabeth, NJ 07201
Growing up in Greece, Nicholas lived through the brutality of the WWII Italian and German occupation followed thereafter by the Greek civil war, which was in many ways worse than the Axis occupation. Nicholas went hungry for weeks because the occupying soldiers confiscated the family's food to feed their own troops. Little food was left when the soldiers came calling and one winter the family survived by eating acorn bread handmade by Nicholas’s grandmother.
Telling the story, Nicholas would always end the recollection with, "You will never know what it is like to have hunger pangs; it hurts, and it hurts a lot." He never wanted to see anyone go hungry.
Nicholas was born of Greek parents (Anastasia Argyriadis and Tilemahos Karant) December 6, 1934, in Constantinople, Asia Minor, now Istanbul, Turkey. Nicholas was an intelligent, self-made, self-educated man, an enthusiastic conversationalist who loved to talk about a vast range of topics and enjoyed listening to all types of music, such as Greek, classical, jazz and more. He had a tough exterior but was known for his kindness and generosity. He consistently rooted for the underdog and was always willing to lend a helping hand.
Nicholas was a generous man who would give the person in need the shirt off his back. He was the life of a party and you felt his presence when he entered the room by his stature, booming voice and laugh that could not be missed. Nicholas loved life and always said, "Every day is a gift." Nicholas outwardly appreciated the gift of life. Every day he was thankful for this gift, even when his health began failing in 2009.
Nicholas's passion was cooking and developed it in his 20’s because it was a way to impress dates when he was too poor to wine and dine them at restaurants. Nicholas’s love for cooking all types of cuisines and his obsession with the kitchen were a result of admiring his grandmother’s simple agrarian cooking skills, going hungry as a child and when he first arrived as an immigrant in America.
Nicholas enlisted in the US Army at Fort Bragg, NC and served from 1957 to 1959, where he ran the canteen and was the first to hire the famous Amos and Andy comedians. Nicholas had a variety of jobs throughout his younger years. Upon his honorable discharge from the military, approximately for a decade, he had various acting jobs in the TV series: Dragnet, Coronet Blues, The Nurses, and many more. At some point, he was a sommelier at the Balboa Club in Newport Beach, CA., had a kiosk selling candy, magazines, and newspapers in Central Park, a NYC taxi driver while taking college classes, a camera salesman, maître ‘d at the famous Copa Cabana in NYC, where he met and socialized with Frank Sinatra and his followers.
Nicholas’s forte was selling. He made his living selling vacation properties in the Poconos in the early 1970's, then selling commodities on Wall Street in the late 70's through the early 80's. And from 1985 to 2013, he was the number 1 sales rep for Body Wrappers Dancewear, Elizabeth, NJ. Nicholas was also part owner of Attitudes In Dressing, Inc. (the parent company of Body Wrappers) from 1981 till his passing. He absolutely adored and treated his customers as his extended family. There are factual stories where Nicholas loaned his customers money so they could stay in business when times were tough for them. In business, Nicholas often followed his heart and why he was adored by many.
Nicholas loved having family gatherings throughout his life, where he continued to showcase the fine gourmet meals he made from scratch. In his later years, one of the things that gave him the zest for life was the challenge of finding new recipes to try for his family with the help of his valued Home Health Aides due to his handicapped condition. Nicholas prided himself on never making the same meal twice.
Nicholas is survived by his wife Marie West, his sons Nicholas Alexander and Christopher James, his siblings Philip Karantazalis of Newark, CA, wife Melitza, son Alexander, daughter Athena and son-in-law Joseph Donovan Bates; Daniel Karant of Norton OH, wife Lynn and children; Theodore Karant of Las Vegas, NV and family, Billy Karant of Southlake, TX and family; and sister Aikaterini Avgerinou of Athens, Greece; his brother-in-law James W. West, his wife Vivian Bagares-West and their two children Chelsea and Collin West. Nicholas is also survived by several first cousins, nieces and nephews in the U.S. and Greece.