DITMARS — Astoria store owner and landlord George Patouhas was killed while doing what he's known best for — helping people, his friends and loved ones said.
The 55-year-old liquor store owner was stabbed to death after intervening in a fight at his shop, where suspect Patrick James Dillon, who went on a day-long violent spree through the neighborhood Sunday, started an argument with an employee.
Patouhas, a husband, father and local landlord, was laid to rest Friday morning during a funeral service at St. Catherine and St. George Church Greek Orthodox Church in Astoria, where he was remembered as kind and generous.
"Everything happened to him because he was helping others," one mourner outside the church said of Pathouhas' death.
Teddy Golfinopoulos, 34, whose grandfather is a tenant in one of Patouhas' buildings, said he'd known the landlord all his life and described him as "the kindest, sweetest person you could ever imagine."
He recalled Patouhas rushing to fix a tenant's heat at the drop of the hat, and letting homeless residents sleep in the basement of his liquor store on Astoria Boulevard when they had no where else to stay.
"George was one of the best guys — helping people, helping homeless," said Nick Gavalas, a family friend who said he'd known Patouhas for 40 years.
"He loved the community," said John Vasiliou, adding that Patouhas was his brother-in-law's nephew. "He had a good heart."
Police say Dillon, 23, stabbed Patouhas on Sunday afternoon at the 38-18 Astoria Blvd. liquor store, where he also set a 61-year-old man on fire.
The store owner had been trying to remove Dillon from the shop after the suspect started an argument with an employee there, according to the NYPD.
Dillon had slashed one of his neighbors in her face earlier that same day, and later tried to break into an apartment on 42nd Street but fled after a resident called 911, police said.
He was shot by police later that evening on 36th Street, after he tossed an accelerant on two officers and refused to drop the knife he'd been carrying, officials said.
Dillon, who lived just blocks from Patouhas' shop, was still hospitalized Friday and had not yet been arraigned, according to the Queens District Attorney's Office.
Father Nektarios Papazafiropoulos, who eulogized Patouhas during his funeral Friday, remembered how he "helped his fellow man."
"He helped them, and at the same time by giving his love, his life was taken away unjustly," he said.
