Lakis Thanopoulos

Baker and businessman Born: November 19, 1937; Died: April 8, 2015.

LAKIS Thanopoulos, who has died aged 77 after suffering from dementia, was a well-known Dumbarton baker. He owned Thomson’s Bakery at College Way in the town centre for more than 40 years and was a well respected businessman in the community.

He was born in a small village near Athens and came to Dumbarton when he was 13 after his father was killed in the Greek Civil War. He was brought up by his mother’s sister Elly and her husband Jimmy Bonner, a coal merchant in the town.

As a young man who was unable either to read or write English, Lakis began his working life delivering milk in the area to make ends meet. Later he was given English lessons by a kind cleric from a local church and by nuns who collected for charity outside his shop. This helped him greatly to progress in life, and Lakis never forgot their generosity.

He went to Hartfield School in Dumbarton and became an apprentice with Neil McAllister, the baker in Church Street. From there he moved to Thomson’s, the baker, in College Street, where the staff of the Municipal Buildings b ou g ht their l u ncht im e sandwiches.

Lakis worked part-time as a barman in the old Kingsclere Hotel in Helensburgh, saved his money and eventually owned a number of shops in Dalmuir and Yoker.

When the new town centre was opened in Dumbarton in 1967, Lakis took over the Thomson business, moved into College Way and made it his own.

A hard-working and dedicated man, he transformed Thomson’s from a small family bakery into a large, flourishing baker’s shop and cafe.

He was famous for his beautifully-designed wedding cakes with their wonderful, ornamental icing and for his pies, which were a favourite half-time snack for supporters of Dumbarton FC at the old Boghead Park.

In what little spare time he had, his hobbies were snooker, which he played at the Corner Pocket in Alexandria, and football, occasionally going to see Rangers at Ibrox Stadium.

He was a founder member of Dumbarton Lions Club, which did a great deal of work for charity, and he counted Sir Reo Stakis, the Scottish-Cypriot hotel magnate and long-time head of Stakis Hotels, among his friends.

He was delighted when Sir Reo, who like him had come from humble beginnings and started out selling his mother’s handmade lace door-to-door, came to Dumbarton and opened one of his restaurants, The Galley.

He lived in various houses in Dumbarton, Helensburgh and Arden, Loch Lomondside and married first Betty Cooper in Glasgow in 1960. They had two daughters, Tracey and Dena.

He later married Elizabeth McPhee with whom he had a son, Constantine, and he is survived by all of them.