[ Libra NëLinjë ]
Klajd Kapinova
Shenim: Nje muaj mĂ« vonĂ«, djemte e te ndjerit Anthony Athanas e kane shitur restorantin Pier 4, ku kane ngrene dreka dhe darka disa presidente te SHBA-se. “Anthony’s Pier 4“, ishte nder restorantet me te famshme, buze Oqeanit Atlantik. Ne fakt ai ishte nje muze, me qindra foto te disa nga personaliteteve me te famshme ameirkane, aktore te Hollywood-it etj. Me mbylljen e ketij restorante perdundon edhe historia e komunitetit te vjeter orthodox shqiptar (qysh nga viti 1878), ne kete qytet dhe shtet te famshem amerikan.
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Anthony Athanas (1911-2005) ishte njĂ« filantrop multi-milioner shqiptaro-amerikan qĂ« ishte nĂ« biznesin e restoranteve. Restorantet e tij pĂ«rfshinin Anthony’s Pier 4, i njohur nĂ« tĂ« gjithĂ« Shtetet e Bashkuara. NĂ« vitin 1976 Shoqata KombĂ«tare e Restoranteve e emĂ«roi atĂ« Restaurator i Vitit.Life. I lindur nĂ« Korçë, nĂ« ShqipĂ«rinĂ« e Jugut, atĂ«herĂ« pjesĂ« e Vilajetit tĂ« Manastirit tĂ« PerandorisĂ« Osmane, mĂ« 28 korrik 1911, Athanas dhe nĂ«na e tij Evangeline udhĂ«tuan me njĂ« gomar nĂ« njĂ« port dhe emigruan nĂ« Bedford, Nju Jork nĂ« 1915-1916, ku babai, i cili ishte murator, dhe vĂ«llezĂ«rit e motrat ishin vendosur. NĂ« moshĂ«n trembĂ«dhjetĂ« vjeçare, Athanas la shkollĂ«n dhe punoi nĂ« disa restorante deri nĂ« vitin 1938, kur bleu restorantin e tij tĂ« parĂ«: Anthony’s Hawthorne CafĂ© nĂ« Swampscott, Massachusetts, i cili nĂ« fillim tĂ« viteve 1950 ishte bĂ«rĂ« restoranti me fitimet mĂ« tĂ« larta nĂ« Massachusetts, me fitime mĂ« shumĂ« se 1 milion dollarĂ« nĂ« vit. Restoranti Lynn u mbyll nĂ« vitin 2008.
NĂ« vitin 1963, ai hapi Anthony’s Pier 4, i cili nĂ« fillim tĂ« viteve 1980 po fitonte rreth 12 milionĂ« dollarĂ« nĂ« vit dhe ishte restoranti me fitimet mĂ« tĂ« larta nĂ« Shtetet e Bashkuara, megjithĂ«se u mbyll nĂ« gusht 2013. Restorantet e tij tĂ« tjera pĂ«rfshinin Taverna buzĂ« detit Hawthorne dhe ShtĂ«pia e Gjeneral Glover nĂ« Swampscott, Massachusetts (The General Glover House u mbyll nĂ« fund tĂ« viteve 1990), dhe Anthony’s Cummaquid Inn nĂ« Yarmouth Port. Cummaquid Inn u mbyll nĂ« vitin 2016. Taverna Hawthorne-By-The-Sea nĂ« Swampscott, MA Ă«shtĂ« e vetmja e mbetur nga restorantet e tij. Anthony’s Pier 4 Cafe dhe Hawthorne by the-dea Tavern in Swampscott (2010). Ă‹shtĂ« restoranti i vetĂ«m qĂ« ka mbetur.
Athanas kishte shĂ«rbyer edhe si president i ShoqatĂ«s sĂ« Restoranteve tĂ« Massachusetts, anĂ«tar i bordit tĂ« ShoqatĂ«s KombĂ«tare tĂ« Restoranteve, ndĂ«rsa nĂ« vitin 1976 u shpall “Restauratori i Vitit“. NĂ« vitin 1999 gjatĂ« LuftĂ«s sĂ« KosovĂ«s, ai u bĂ« anĂ«tar i delegacionit tĂ« Kongresit tĂ« Shteteve tĂ« Bashkuara, ShqipĂ«risĂ«, KosovĂ«s dhe MaqedonisĂ«. MegjithĂ«se Athanas nuk kishte arsim formal, ai ishte njĂ« lektor i njohur nĂ« ShkollĂ«n e Biznesit tĂ« Harvardit, Universitetin e New Hampshire dhe Universitetin Cornell dhe iu dha “Çmimi Horatio Alger” nga Shoqata Horatio Alger e AmerikanĂ«ve tĂ« Shquar nĂ« vitin 1978.
Ai vdiq në Swampscott, në shtëpi më 20 maj 2005, nga sëmundja e Alzheimerit në moshën 93 vjeçare. Funerali u mbajt në Katedralen Ortodokse Shqiptare të Shën Gjergjit (1908) në Bostonin e Jugut.
ENGLISH
Anthony Athanas (1911-2005) was a multi-millionaire Albanian American restaurateur and philanthropist. His restaurants included Anthony’s Pier 4, known throughout United States. In 1976 the National Restaurant Association named him Restaurateur of the Year.Life. Born in Korçë, southern Albania, then part of the Manastir Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire, on July 28, 1911, Athanas and his mother Evangeline traveled on a donkey to a port and emigrated to Bedford, New York in 1915-1916, where his father, who was a mason, and siblings had settled. At the age of thirteen Athanas left school and worked in several restaurants until 1938, when he bought his first restaurant: Anthony’s Hawthorne CafĂ© in Swampscott, Massachusetts, which by the early 1950s had become the highest-grossing restaurant in Massachusetts, with profits of more than $1 million annually. The Lynn restaurant closed in 2008.
In 1963, he opened Anthony’s Pier 4, which by the early 1980s was grossing about $12 million annually and was the highest-grossing restaurant in the United States, though it closed in August 2013. His other restaurants included the Hawthorne by-the-sea Tavern and The General Glover House in Swampscott, Massachusetts (The General Glover House closed in the late 1990s), and Anthony’s Cummaquid Inn in Yarmouth Port. Cummaquid Inn closed in 2016. Hawthorne-By-The-Sea Tavern in Swampscott, MA is the only remaining of his restaurants. Anthony’s Pier 4 Cafe and Hawthorne by-the-sea Tavern in Swampscott (2010). It is the only restaurant of his left.
Athanas had also served as president of Massachusetts’s Restaurant Association, a member of the board of the National Restaurant Association, while in 1976 he was named “Restaurateur of the Year”. In 1999 during the Kosovo War, he became a member of the congressional delegation of the United States, Albania, Kosovo, and Macedonia.[5] Although Athanas had no formal education he was a popular lecturer at Harvard Business School, the University of New Hampshire and Cornell University, and was awarded the “Horatio Alger Award” by the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans in 1978.
He died at his Swampscott home on May 20, 2005, of Alzheimer’s disease at the age of 93. The funeral was held at St. George Albanian Orthodox Cathedral (1908) in South Boston.
