Demosthenes J. Kostas (née Konstantatos)

Demosthenes J. Kostas (née Konstantatos), a telecommunications engineer and lover of the classics, died October 27, 2023, at the age of 89.

He was born in 1934 in Kefalonia, Greece, and as a child lived through World War II and the Greek Civil War. After the civil war, he immigrated with his family to the US and settled in New York City. Despite not speaking English and being enrolled in a substandard high school, he was fortunate to benefit from the encouragement of a few teachers and graduated from the City College of NY with a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering. He followed that with a MSc from Columbia University and a PhD from New York University. He subsequently had a long and successful career in telecommunications, developing products and services and helping to set standards.

In addition to being a strong believer in education (later in life he also obtained an MBA), he had a strong sense of humanity and social justice rooted in his firsthand experiences with war and poverty as a child. He also loved music, literature, and poetry, and had a strong love of the classics. He woke his children on the weekends reciting his favorite stanza from The Rubaiyat by Omar Khayyam:

Dreaming when Dawn’s Left Hand was in the Sky

I heard a Voice within the Tavern cry,

    “Awake, my Little ones, and fill the Cup

“Before Life’s Liquor in its Cup be dry.”

He was a devoted husband, father, and grandfather. He is survived by his wife, Efstratia, and two children, Antigone and Odysseas, daughter-in-law Jennifer, and two granddaughters whom he loved more than anything. He will be greatly missed.

All Funeral Services have been completed and were entrusted to Colonial Funeral Home. Condolences may be expressed at www.colonialfunerals.com.