CHICAGO – Van A. Gallios, the last of four Greek-American brothers who owned the well-known Miller’s Pub in Chicago has passed away at the age of 86. Gallios died on October 29 at his Park Ridge home and had suffered from dementia and cancer, according to his son Andrew, the Chicago Sun Times reported.

He was born Evangelos Gallios in Chicago on September 19, 1933, and his parents were from Megalopoli near Tripoli in Greece. His father Aristedes had immigrated to San Francisco but following the death of his brother in the devastating 1906 earthquake there, moved to Chicago and sold produce as a street vendor while mother Georgia washed clothes to help support the family and their eight children, the Sun Times reported.

An Army veteran, Gallios also traveled, “He went to Egypt, he went skiing in the Alps. He even made it to Greece, things, to him, growing up in the Depression, [that] seemed exotic,” his son told the Sun Times.

When he returned from his Army service, he joined his older brothers Jimmy, Nick, and Pete in the restaurant business. Soon, celebrities began frequenting Miller’s Pub, among them Tony Bennett, Jimmy Durante, and figures from the world of baseball such as Tony La Russa and White Sox owner Bill Veeck.

Gallios “loved sitting at the bar, talking to people. He was proud of the place,” his son told the Sun Times.

Besides his son Andrew, Gallios is survived by his wife Constance nee Tressa, daughter Georganne Lopez, and son Harry, sister Betty Sefer, and seven grandchildren, Evangeline, Jack, and James Gallios, Brynn and Elijah Beaver, and Julia and Melinda Lopez, as well as many nieces and nephews.

The visitation was held on November 1 with the funeral service following at Transfiguration Chapel at Elmwood Cemetery in River Grove, IL. Interment was held at Elmwood Cemetery. Arrangements were entrusted to Conboy-Westchester Funeral Home.