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Mike Pappas was a successful Fredericksburg businessman and devoted father Date published: 2/24/2006
By JIM HALL When Mike Pappas was choosing a name for his company, he reached into Greek mythology, to Atlas, who carried the world on his shoulders. The choice was both personal and practical, said Amy Satterthwaite Pappas, his wife of 14 years. "He was very proud of his Greek heritage," she said. Pappas of Fredericksburg was one of four area men killed late Wednesday night when their plane crashed while trying to land at the Stafford Regional Airport. He was 46. Michael Gus Pappas was born in Charlottesville, the youngest of three children. He was a graduate of Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham. It always bothered him that he never attended college, said Amy Pappas. But his friends never saw this as a failing. They knew him as a very able, successful businessman. "He was self-educated," said David Corderman, a friend. Over the last 17 years, Pappas had built three successful businesses in the Fredericksburg area. The first was Atlas Power Wash, a commercial washing company. A half-dozen people, working part time, helped him wash truck fleets and houses. During the winter, when the washing business slowed down, he cleaned ductwork in homes and businesses. He chose the name Atlas so his business would be the first one listed in the phone book, Amy Pappas said. But he also wanted to honor the Greek legend. His parents, Gus and Evangeline Pappas, were second-generation Greek-Americans, and their son flew the Greek flag outside his home on special occasions, such as when Greece hosted the Olympics, or when Greek tennis star Marcos Baghdatis was playing. In recent years, Mike Pappas had also become a real estate investor. He owned two rental homes in Fredericksburg and rehabbed nine other houses in Stafford, King George, Spotsylvania and Caroline counties and Colonial Beach and Fredericksburg. Working with real estate agent Graham Green III, who also made the trip to North Carolina and died with him in the plane crash, Pappas bought houses that needed work, fixed them up and sold them. "His big love was the real estate," Amy Pappas said. She and her husband met as teenagers in Charlottesville, reconnected later and married in 1991. They moved to the Fredericksburg area, where she was a reporter, editor and writing coach at The Free Lance-Star.
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