It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of visionary leader and founding Pinellas Education Foundation Chair Dr. Gus Stavros. For more than 35 years, Dr. Stavros’ commitment and generosity enhanced the lives of countless students in Pinellas County and beyond – and built the Pinellas Education Foundation into the innovative, transformative and nationally acclaimed organization it is today.

Dr. Stavros shared a passion for education with his late wife, Frances Stavros, and a commitment to civic involvement and philanthropy. He served as chair of our Board of Directors in its formative years. And his ability to mobilize business and community leaders into action led to the iconic, hands-on program of Enterprise Village for fifth-graders in 1989 – an initiative for which he raised $1.1 million through the donations of local businesses and his own contributions. Enterprise Village was later replicated around the nation and overseas as Junior Achievement’s BizTown, and was followed by the creation of the equally impactful Finance Park for eighth-graders in 1998.

Dr. Stavros’ bold, can-do legacy lives on not only in the life-changing work of the Pinellas Education Foundation but in the lasting mark he has left on all of Pinellas County Schools, the entire Tampa Bay Community and on lives enriched around the world.

A memorial service will be held at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Clearwater on November 12, 2022, at 11 a.m. For more details on Dr. Stavros’ life, please click here.

“The most important thing I find is that you must be involved. And be involved with young people and education. Nothing is more important than education. I learned that a long time ago because my parents, who had little education, convinced me to go as far as I can.”  – Dr. Gus Stavros