Spiros Zakas, then a teenager, spent three formative years working at his father Mike's Greek-style diner at Peachtree Street and North Avenue, where the Bank of America tower now stands.
Not that that experience inspired him to be a chef. He had a different artistic bent.
Instead of cooking school, the Grady High School graduate went to the prestigious Parsons School of Design in New York City, trained as an interior designer and over the years became a trendsetter who transformed the appearance of restaurants across America and as time passed, other hospitality venues as well.
Pano Karatassos of Atlanta, founder of the Buckhead Life Restaurant Group, called Mr. Zakas' interiors timeless and humanistic.
"The design he did for inside the Atlanta Fish Market is an excellent example of those qualities," he said. "You can't help but feel comfortable in the spaces that Spiros created."
Another restaurant group founder, Rich Melman of Chicago, who started the Lettuce Entertain You mega-enterprise that encompasses 70 restaurants, said Mr. Zakas was remarkably creative.
"Spiros could be daring, as in a women's apparel store he did in suburban Chicago that had frosted-glass dressing rooms and larger-than-life lipsticks and sunglasses lying about. Or he could be sophisticated and classical as in his redo of the Pump Room restaurant on Chicago's Gold Coast," Mr. Melman said. "His redesign there played a big part in turning that place back into a success."
Tom Colameco, a Fort Lauderdale, Fla., restaurateur, said what distinguished Mr. Zakas from other hospitality designers was that he grew up in the restaurant business. "Spiros knew the practical side," he said. "Most designers don't."
Mr. Zakas designed what Mr. Colameco called a "cutting-edge" nightclub and two restaurants for him in the Virgin Islands.
The first thing Mr. Zakas asked another client, Evan Christou of Schenectady, N.Y., was not about colors or style of the restaurant renovation that Mr. Christou wanted, but what sort of food he served and what kind of clientele he wanted to attract.
"When Spiros' design came together, the result was amazing," he said. "I felt my place [called the Tops American Grill, Bar & Bakery] was a piece of art crafted by a great sculptor. The whole area has a wow factor and yet a sense of comfort as well."
Spiros Michael Zakas, 70, died Monday of complications of Parkinson's disease at the Northeast Atlanta Health and Rehabilitation Center, where he had resided since last year. His funeral is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Sunday at A.S. Turner & Sons, Decatur. In lieu of flowers, his family requests that donations in his memory be made to the National Parkinson Foundation c/o www.parkinson.org or the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of Annunciation, 2500 Clairmont Road N.E., Atlanta, GA 30329.
Mr. Zakas lived in Manhattan for 24 years, much of that time in a loft apartment that he occupied before lofts became trendy, said Peter Zakas of Lawrenceville, his brother and business partner in their design firm, Zakaspace. In 1989, Spiros Zakas moved his studio to Fort Lauderdale, where he resided until moving to Atlanta in 2010.
During his years in New York, Mr. Zakas taught courses at the Parsons School, wrote books on how to design inexpensively and created furniture of Lucite and Plexiglas, some examples of which are displayed in leading museums. He also created sets for tCBS television network shows and designed residential interiors for celebrities such as Sen. Edward Kennedy, actress Fannie Brice and journalist David Halberstam.
In 1975, he and his brother Peter established Zakaspace to concentrate on clients in the hospitality business. Since then, their firm has done interiors for more than 700 restaurants, both for chains such as Houston's and McDonald's and for high-end dining spots such as the renovation of Veni Vidi Vici in Atlanta's Midtown. Mr. Zakas also did interiors, lighting and even wallpaper for Hilton, Marriott and Sheraton hotels.
Also surviving are a niece, Chelsea Zakas of Atlanta, and two nephews, Peter Zakas Jr. of Atlanta and Michael Zakas of Birmingham.
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