[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 25 (Wednesday, March 11, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E354-E356]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


        GUS AND FRANCES STAVROS--GIVING BACK TO THEIR COMMUNITY

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. C.W. BILL YOUNG

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 11, 1998

  Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Mr. Speaker, if any one knows that hard work 
leads to success it is Gus Stavros, my dear friend and constituent from 
St. Petersburg, Florida.
  The son of an immigrant from Crete, his success is grounded in a 
strong set of values which have guided him throughout his life, as a 
parent, a businessman, and generous philanthropist.
  Among the shared beliefs of Gus and Frances Stavros is a commitment 
to improving educational opportunities for the children of Pinellas 
County, Florida. With a $1 million gift in 1987, the couple spearheaded 
a county-wide effort to establish Enterprise Village, a state-of-the-
art learning facility to teach fifth-graders about business and 
economics. Since its opening, more than 100,000 students have 
participated in programs at Enterprise Village. All fifth-graders in 
Pinellas County complete a business course that prepares them for 
spending a day at Enterprise Village, which is the key to their 
learning experience. There they have the opportunity to run one of a 
number of businesses such as a bank, drugstore, newspaper, fast-food 
establishment, hospital, or radio station. They are paid with special 
currency, with which they can open a checking account for the day, have 
lunch, and spend their money at businesses in the Village.
  The experience has been such an unqualified success for students, 
parents, and teachers that the Stavros family recently announced a new 
campaign, spearheaded with another $1 million gift, to establish 
Enterprise Village II to allow eighth-graders to have a hands-on 
experience in business and economics.
  This is just one of many charitable endeavors to which Gus and 
Frances Stavros have given so much. They have given to local theaters, 
orchestras, museums, and colleges.
  Mr. Speaker, Gus Stavros has lived the American Dream. He is the son 
of an immigrant, a decorated veteran of World War II, he is a proud 
father and husband, he is a successful businessman, and he and his wife 
have given back many times over to our community. And in just a few 
days, on March 20th, he and Frances will celebrate their golden 50th 
wedding anniversary.
  Following my remarks, I will include for the benefit of my colleagues 
a story by Lennie Bennett from Sunday's St. Petersburg Times which 
tells the remarkable story of this very special, and most generous, 
couple--Gus and Frances Stavros.
  Their story is one that I hope inspires others throughout our nation 
to lead by example and give back to their communities to make them a 
better place to live.

             [From the St. Petersburg Times, Mar. 8, 1998]

                   Couple Relish Giving Away Millions

                          (By Lennie Bennett)

       St. Petersburg.--Gus and Frances Stavros went out to lunch 
     for a celebration the day they pledged $1-million in matching 
     funds to Enterprise Village II last month.
       On the way home from Largo to their condominium in downtown 
     St. Petersburg, they passed by a number of fine restaurants 
     and private clubs.
       Finally they found what they were looking for--hamburgers 
     and french fries at Wendy's.
       That lack of pretension is typical, friends and colleagues 
     say of the couple, both 73, who made millions when he sold 
     his company, Better Business Forms Inc., in 1984 and 
     subsequently have given most of those millions away.
       ``I don't believe in saving it, and waiting to give it away 
     after my demise,'' Stavros said

[[Page E355]]

     recently at their downtown St. Petersburg business office.
       The couple declined to estimate just how much they have 
     given to the community, saying only that it was ``a 
     considerable sum,'' but there are few cultural institutions 
     in Pinellas County that haven't benefited from their 
     generosity.
       He is considered a driving force behind the development of 
     Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater, where he lived for many 
     years, spending a decade raising funds to build the 
     performing arts center.
       They are major donors of the Florida Orchestra, American 
     Stage Theatre Company and the Museum of Fine Arts, where 
     halls, courtyards and galleries bear the Stavros name.
       But talk to Gus Stavros for just a few minutes, and it's 
     clear that even though his motto for giving is ``church, 
     culture and education,'' his abiding passion is education.
       ``Of all the ills of the world, the only solution is 
     education,'' Stavros said.
       He would know.
       Gus Stavros' father, Anthony, was born on the island of 
     Crete in 1898. When Anthony Stavros was 9, his family 
     ``sold'' him to a wealthy Athenian businessman who employed 
     him as a gardener, sending his wages back to Crete. He ran 
     away after a beating and worked odd jobs, saving enough to 
     immigrate to the United States in 1912.
       ``My father came here because he was told--and really 
     believed--that the streets were lined with gold. When he got 
     here, he realized that they were lined with opportunity.''
       The young man, who spoke no English, worked as a dishwasher 
     in Greek restaurants, and eventually was able to buy diners 
     in Elizabeth, N.J., and prospered as a small businessman. He 
     married another Greek emigre, Elizabeth Kourasmenos, who 
     helped in the business. When Gus Anthony Stavros, their only 
     child, was old enough, he worked, too.
       But that was after he went to a public school from 8 a.m. 
     to 3 p.m., then a Greek school from 4 to 7.
       ``My father taught himself to read and write in both 
     languages. My mother never learned to read or write. But she 
     knew how to count. She worked the cash register,'' Stavros 
     recalled.
       ``My father had great marketing know-how. He put a big sign 
     on the highway that read `Free Soup with Meals. All the 
     coffee you can drink, five cents.' This was during the 
     Depression. Truck drivers lined up for miles to get in.''
       A good student, Stavros received a scholarship to Columbia 
     University in New York City, and he attended for a year 
     before enlisting in the Army in 1942.
       For three years, he served under Gen. George Patton. During 
     the final march on Berlin, he was wounded in the head by 
     artillery fire. He returned home with a Purple Heart, the 
     Bronze Star and an injury that left him partly paralyzed in 
     his left arm and hand.
       The first call he made from the stateside hospital was to 
     Frances Shaw, a young woman he had met only twice.
       ``In high school, a bunch of us formed the Condor Athletic 
     Club. We'd play basketball, go bowling together. One night at 
     the bowling alley, a friend came in with Frances. I asked for 
     an introduction. Later, I said to my best friend, `That's the 
     girl I'm going to marry.' ''
       Gus Stavros and Frances Shaw didn't see each other again 
     for two years. When he looked her up during one of his Army 
     leaves, she didn't remember him.
       They began corresponding although, as Mrs. Stavros said, 
     ``I wrote to a lot of boys overseas. We all did, so they 
     wouldn't be so lonely.''
       In 1945, when Stavros was released from the hospital, he 
     returned to Columbia University and graduated with a liberal 
     arts degree in 1948.
       Gus and Frances were married that same year.
       Like her husband, Frances Stavros was a child of the 
     Depression.
       ``My father worked for the railroad,'' she said, ``and we 
     never had a lot. But my family, like Gus', valued 
     education.''
       ``That is why we feel so strongly about the Pinellas County 
     Education Foundation and Enterprise Village,'' Gus Stavros 
     said.


                            Meaning business

       Stavros is chairman emeritus of the Pinellas County 
     Education Foundation, which was formed 11 years ago by then-
     associate superintendent Dr. Howard Hinesley and members of 
     the business community to develop enhancement programs that 
     the school system could not pay for.
       One of those programs is Enterprise Village. It is a 
     testament to Stavros' unequivocal belief in the free 
     enterprise system.
       ``I'm not an economist. I'm a businessman. Enterprise 
     Village teaches students about our economic system, which is 
     the greatest in the world.''
       He planned Enterprise Village with a businessman's savvy.
       ``In 1977, I was involved in an event called Expo '77 for 
     11th- and 12th-graders, with local business leaders at booths 
     in the Bayfront Center to help students with career planning. 
     It didn't work. We held it on a Friday, and the kids came in 
     the front door and went right out the back, probably to the 
     beach.
       ``Then we went into the schools with films to talk about 
     the free enterprise system. It bored the kids, and they 
     didn't pay any attention.
       ``So I sat down and thought, `In the world of business, you 
     do what the customer wants. Who's the customer here? The 
     student.' That's how we started with Enterprise Village.''
       The facility was modeled after Hallmark Cards Learning City 
     in Kansas City, Mo., which Hinesley visited in 1987. He 
     called Stavros, excited.
       ``I asked him to spearhead it, and he said yes,'' recalled 
     Hinesley, now superintendent of Pinellas County schools.
       ``He opened doors that we couldn't. He went with us on 
     every call. Some people had said no to us, and he got them to 
     change their minds. I, at first, was just thinking small, 
     something for $5,000. Then it kept growing because Gus wanted 
     to do it the right way. I never thought we could raise that 
     kind of money.''
       By the time Stavros finished the campaign, $1-million had 
     been raised to build the Largo facility.
       Stavros secured commitments from local corporations to 
     replicate smaller versions of their businesses in a mall-like 
     building with a central meeting space, complete with gazebo, 
     called Town Square.
       Since opening in 1989, more than 100,000 students have 
     participated.
       All fifth-graders in Pinellas County complete a business 
     course provided by Enterprise Village before their visit. 
     Then they spend a day working at one of the businesses, 
     supervised by staff and volunteers. A bank, drugstore, 
     newspaper, fast-food restaurant and hospital ``employ'' them, 
     pay them in pretend money and give them time to open checking 
     accounts, go shopping, have lunch. They meet at the end of 
     the day for a speech by an elected ``mayor,'' one of the 
     students.
       Students, teachers and parents laud the experience.
       ``We receive comments from them, and from visitors from all 
     over the world who want to copy the program, about the 
     importance of it, and of the importance of continuing this 
     kind of education,'' said Frances Neu, executive director of 
     the foundation.
       In fact, it has been so successful, it has spawned 
     Enterprise Village II for eighth-graders.
       ``It's important that we go beyond an introduction to 
     entrepreneurism. At Enterprise Village II, we're going to 
     teach students fiscal responsibility, ethics and career 
     planning. Ethics, most importantly. We've got to teach young 
     people that to be truly successful, you must live an ethical 
     life,'' Stavros said.


                              Life lessons

       Even though he is a decorated war veteran and graduate of a 
     prestigious university, Stavros could not get a job because 
     of his partial paralysis. He was advised to stay home and 
     collect his disability pension. He finally found a job with 
     Simmons Mattress Co. in New Jersey and worked his way up 
     through the management ranks, eventually transferring to 
     Ohio.
       But in his entrepreneurial heart, what he really wanted was 
     his own business. With two partners he started a small 
     company that printed business forms.
       Better Business Forms began with three employees working 
     out of a Quonset hut.
       Stavros, who had moved his family to Pinellas County 
     continued to work his day job, spending weekends and nights 
     at Better Business Forms. When the company was sold in 1989, 
     it employed 550 people and posted sales close to $90-million.
       He managed the company's explosive growth with innovative 
     business practices and a belief that no matter how big the 
     business got, the individual employee always counted.
       ``It was the most satisfying thing I've done in my life, 
     building a company with 550 employees, 550 families,'' he 
     said.
       He speaks of his own family with pride.
       ``I'm very proud that my son Paul has gotten involved with 
     the Palladium project.''
       Palladium is a private effort to convert the First Church 
     of Christ, Scientist, in downtown St. Petersburg into a mid-
     size preforming arts hall.
       ``Paul was also the one who got us involved with American 
     Stage. Our other son, Mark, is a sportsman who races 
     greyhounds. Our daughter, Ellen, got us involved with the 
     Museum of Fine Arts when she was a docent. Now she is 
     executive director of Florida House in Washington, D.C. It's 
     like state embassy, the only one.''
       The Stavroses have attended St. Paul's Lutheran Church in 
     Clearwater for 40 years, teaching Sunday School, and coaching 
     basketball and softball.


                               Moving on

       A self-described workaholic and a hands-on volunteer who 
     rarely relaxed during his adult life, Stavros seems happy to 
     slow down a little now, though he said he believes that ``the 
     condition of standing still is the beginning of the end.''
       Gus and Frances Stavros, who will celebrate their 50th 
     wedding anniversary March 20, spend summers in North 
     Carolina, and they have traveled a bit with family.
       He claims to serve on fewer boards. Even so, his plate 
     remains full of meaty fund-raising commitments such as the 
     $500,000 still needed to pay for Enterprise Village II (he's 
     already raised $3-million). He is chairman of the Florida 
     State University Foundation, and co-chairman of the 
     University of South Florida's capital campaign, with a goal 
     of raising $220-million. Not surprisingly, he's met half of 
     that goal.

[[Page E356]]

       He loves speaking to students. ``I tell them the story of 
     the Pilgrims and the Mayflower Compact, a great document, 
     which had one defect, that everyone should work for the good 
     of all and pool their work product. They were starving to 
     death. Gov. (William) Bradford then gave each man his own 
     parcel of land for a year. At the end of that year, we had 
     two great institutions, Thanksgiving and free enterprise.''
       He leans forward in a chair in his modest office as he 
     gives this history lesson.
       Surrounding him are hundreds of plaques, resolutions, 
     statuettes and photographs, tokens of his life in service to 
     the community.
       There on the walls are the Florida Chamber Economic 
     Education Leadership Award, Commissioner's Award for 
     Excellence, Liberty Bell Award, National Conference of 
     Christians and Jews Silver Medallion Award, United Way Award 
     for Leadership, Friends of the Arts Award, and on and on.
       There he is as Mr. Sun, the most prestigious civic award in 
     St. Petersburg, and as Mr. Clearwater; he is the only person 
     ever awarded both honors. There he is at the dedication of 
     the Gus A. Stavros Center for the Advancement of Free 
     Enterprise and Economic Education at Florida State University 
     in 1988, and a year later at USF to dedicate a second center.
       But he doesn't want to talk about any of those on this day. 
     He wants to return to the story of his lunch at Wendy's.
       ``We had the program for the Enterprise Village II ground-
     breaking in our hands as we pick up our food,'' he said. 
     ``And our server saw it and said, `Do you know about 
     Enterprise Village? I want you to know I took off work so I 
     could volunteer there for both of my children. It's one of 
     the most wonderful things that ever happened to my kids.'''
       Gus and Frances Stavros turned to each other and smiled.
       They can't remember having a better meal.

       

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