ROSEDALE — A beloved ice cream man whose customers threw him a surprise retirement party last year died this week while working in his home's attic, his family said.
Stavros "Steve" Stathopolous was working on a light fixture in his attic on Tuesday when he was apparently electrocuted, his daughter, Nikki Stathopolous Dandouras, told DNAinfo.
The family is still waiting for an autopsy to determine the cause of death, she said.
Stathopolous' wake will be held Friday, July 1 at the Bellmore Funeral Home, 2340 Jerusalem Ave. in Bellmore, Long Island. Viewings are from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m.
His funeral will be held Saturday, July 2 St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church, 2421 Hewlett Ave. in Merrick at 10 a.m, according to his daughter.
Stathopolous, 69, came to Queens from Patras, Greece in 1973, and bought a Good Humor ice cream truck soon after.
In the winters he worked as a chef but in the spring, summer and early fall he drove around Glendale and other neighborhoods as "Steve the Ice Cream Man," doling out $.10 bags of Swedish fish and ice cream bars.
READ: Customers Throw Surprise Retirement Party for Beloved Ice Cream Man
He retired in 2012 after hurting his knee. His truck, which was built in 1970, had also become too expensive to repair.
But customers missed him driving around Glendale. Customer Barbara McDermott organized a surprise retirement party on June 27, 2015, at Yermans Pub, which was along his route.
Stathopolous, whose family was in on the surprise, spent the evening sharing stories and buying shots with his customers — who he said he could still recognize after decades because, even though they had grown, their eyes were the same.
He learned English on the truck by asking customers to point to what they wanted. And while the seven-day-a-week job was tiring, he loved his customers.
The party made him feel "like a king," he told DNAinfo.
“I grew up over here. I grew up all over Glendale," he said."I never found another thing as good as Glendale. They are like my family.”
