A Giving Heart
A husband honors his wife's legacy of giving through a nursing scholarship fund.
by Lisa Hijazin
Michael Patzakis, MD, (’59, MD ’63) vividly remembers the moment he met his wife, Susan Giokaris Patzakis (’63), for the first time. “It was a Thursday and I was coming from my anatomy exam. We were walking opposite directions and suddenly, I heard, ‘Hi!’ I looked over and it was like love at first sight.” The two students, one in medical school and one in nursing, spent the day getting to know each other at the student union. Two years later, they were married.
Patzakis didn’t have much when he met the girl of his dreams. His father died when he was 7, and Patzakis started working at a farmer’s market at a young age and delivering newspapers to make money. During summer, he worked at an aluminum factory to save for college. “I worked seven days a week, 10 hours a day to make enough money to pay my way,” he said. On his budget of $1 a day for food at college, “I would have a hamburger and, in the evening, I would get a can of Franco-American spaghetti.” Despite the hardship, he prospered at college and says he is grateful to the phenomenal education he received at Ohio State, which helped set him up for success.
Besides their dedication to the health sciences, the two had many things in common, including families that deeply valued giving to others. “My parents and my wife’s parents were very religious, generous and patriotic people,” Michael Patzakis recalled. Even when they didn’t have much to offer, they would always lend a helping hand. “Generosity is something that is innate to us – it is in our hearts,” he said.
Meet Susan Giokaris Patzakis Scholarship recipient Francisca Osei Wusu.
After they graduated in 1963, they moved to California, where Patzakis interned and completed his orthopedic residency at the Los Angeles County, USC Medical Center. He later joined the USC faculty, where he served until retiring (by then, chairman of the Department of Orthopedic Surgery) in 2012. Giving continued to be a centerpiece of their lives. Susan Patzakis raised their four children and found time to be very active in their local church community.
“She was a giving heart, which describes her perfectly,” he said. Susan Patzakis helped raise money for student medical and dental scholarships and hosted numerous fundraising charity events at their house. “People described her as a role model and a mentor to
many women.”
Susan Patzakis was honored by many organizations for her charitable work, such as the Saint Sophia Philoptochos Society and Saint Sophia Cathedral for her role in the Saint Sophia Building Fund.
By the time she passed away in 2021 at age 79, her accomplishments included serving as president of the Patriarch Athenagoras Orthodox Institute Women's Board of Southern California and chairing many committees, including the Loren L. Zachary Society for The Performing Arts.
Michael Patzakis felt the best way to honor his wife’s legacy was by naming a scholarship fund after her. The Susan Giokaris Patzakis Endowed Nursing Scholarship Fund aims to support nursing students enrolled in the College of Nursing who demonstrate financial need. It was established in 2015 through the Ohio Scholarship Challenge and is now part of the newly proposed university initiative, Scarlet and Gray Advantage. This program aims to create pathways over the next decade to help students earn their undergraduate degrees debt-free.
