'He made everybody feel special': Lucky Stratis, Windsor restaurateur dead at 59

If you're in the food business in Windsor, Ont., you know who Lucky Stratis was — a proud Greek-Canadian and a hospitality maverick, who most recently owned On a Roll Sushi.

Stratis died suddenly on Dec. 8 at just 59 years old.

"He's someone [who] had been in the food business his entire life," said Rino Bortolin. "He's someone you looked up to. He was always around and always involved."

Stratis got his hands dirty in his dad's kitchen at the Olympus restaurant on Wyandotte Street when he was just 10 years old.

Outpourings of support for his family and love for Lucky covered social media pages in Windsor Monday.

"You weren't just the dishwasher or the musician, you were part of the business [to him]," said Bortolin. "He's had a hand in so many businesses over the last half a century."

Stratis was a "serial" restaurant owner, who in the past had also owned The Whistling Kettle.

"He made everybody feel special," said Bortolin. "He wasn't doing it for the customers coming in, it was for the employees and all the people who worked with him."

Stratis's funeral is Thursday at 10:15 a.m. at Families First.