Fotios Litsas, a professor of Byzantine history and Greek archeology at the University of Illinois at Chicago, died of cancer Sunday at age 55 in Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
Mr. Litsas was an avid reader, who recorded traditional Greek customs, which had been passed down orally through the centuries.
Born in Chora, Greece, Mr. Litsas grew up in Messinias, a region of the Peloponnesus renowned for its archeological richness.
He spent many childhood days visiting the vestiges of Greek civilization, Maria Litsas, his wife, said.
He studied at the University of Athens, from which he received a bachelor’s degree in archeology in 1964 and began teaching Greek history in high schools in Messinias.
By 1971, Mr. Litsas had left Greece for the United States to work on his Ph.D. at the University of Chicago, where he specialized in Byzantine history.
He received his doctorate in 1980 and became an assistant professor at Northeastern Illinois University.
In 1981, he became the director of the Greek studies program at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
“He loved reading and lecturing,” said his wife.
“He also wrote many school books for Greek high schools in America.”
Involved in the cultural life of the Greek community in Chicago, Mr. Litsas was director of Greek education for the Greek Orthodox Diocese and edited “A Companion to the Greek Orthodox Church.”
Mr. Litsas was a prolific academic author.
He wrote “Greek Folklore Weddings,” and “Little Odyssey of the Greek Americans,” among other books and articles.
Other survivors in addition to his wife include six brothers, Chrysanthi, Polyhronis, Stavroula, Ioannis, Lambros and Dionysios.
Services will begin at 11 a.m. Wednesday in Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral, 1017 N. LaSalle St.
