Port Jeff native John Koutrakos, 84, dies

John Koutrakos worked as a dishwasher at the family restaurant in Port Jefferson to put himself through college, achieved the rank of captain as a U.S. Navy dental surgeon, and spent his retirement working for fellow veterans.

"He used to say something when we were kids. Three things are important: God, country and family -- and not necessarily in that order," said his daughter, Lina Koutrakos of Manhattan. "He was someone who always did the right thing and took the rest of us with him."

John Koutrakos died of liver cancer at age 84 on Oct. 27 at his retirement home in Branson, Mo.

Although he had much to be proud of, his daughter said, he was most proud of the pioneering work he and other surgeons did at Bethesda Naval Hospital in the late 1960s, doing facial reconstruction work on troops wounded in Vietnam.

"He was a humanitarian and he liked the way medicine was practiced by the Navy -- no restrictions on care -- and he liked the brotherhood of the Navy and the moving around," his daughter said.

A native of Port Jefferson, Koutrakos' first job was washing dishes at the family's Original Elks Hotel and Restaurant on Main Street -- a local institution opened in 1923 that served for a time as the local barracks of the state troopers.

He attended Syracuse University and the NYU College of Dentistry. After retiring from the Navy, he opened what his daughter called "an affordable dental office" in Selden in the early 1980s, and retired to Branson in 1993 with his second wife, Phyllis Kay Moore.

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In Branson, he worked on projects for retired members of the military and was president of the Military Officers of America and its Council of Chapters for the State of Missouri.

He was predeceased by his first wife Bess Sotiriou, Moore, and his brother Jimmy Koutrakos. Besides Lina Koutrakos, he is survived by daughters Maribeth Koutrakos-Perreaux of Manhattan and Kelly Klug of Mount Sinai, his stepson, Scott Hardwick, of Branson and six grandchildren.

Visiting is from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesday at the O.B. Davis Funeral Homes in Miller Place, where there will be a funeral service at 10 a.m. Wednesday, followed by burial at Long Island National Cemetery, Pinelawn.