Chris G. Zervos: 1921-2014: WWII veteran built business around homes

Published: Friday, 11/28/2014 - Updated: 55 seconds ago

BY MIKE SIGOV BLADE STAFF WRITER

Chris G. Zervos, a retired northwest Ohio custom home builder, land developer, and World War II veteran, died of apparent congestive heart failure Wednesday at Ebeid Hospice Residence, Sylvania. He was 93.

Mr. Zervos co-owned and operated the former Chris Zervos Builders Inc. on West Laskey Road, a home-building company specializing in upscale homes, from 1972 when he and his son, Chris Zervos, established the company until he retired in 1996.

My father taught me business, his son said. He believed in high-quality product and in charging a fair price for it.

He was a man of honor. He was very proud of his family, of his heritage, and of his fate.

Before launching that business, the elder Mr. Zervos owned and operated the former general contracting company Mid-City Builders in West Toledo from 1957 until 1972, when it closed.

Later in the 1970s, Mr. Zervos and his son expanded into land development for single-family residential communities.

They developed Christopher Woods off of Alexis Road in Toledo in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Hunters Green off of Whiteford Road in Sylvania Township in 1993, and Timber Ridge Estates in Springfield Township, also in 1993.

He also co-owned and operated the former Delite Night Club at Central and Detroit avenues from 1946 when he and George Stratos, his brother-in-law, bought it until 1955, when they sold the club. At different times in the mid to late-1950s, he also was a salesman and a project manager at the former Stone & Swartzbaugh, a home improvement and remodeling company on Sylvania Avenue.

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Chris G. Zervos: 1921-2014: WWII veteran built business around homes