Andre Moussou –
born Sulina, Romania April 11, 1908; died Oxford, England November 14, 1970
These two pictures are a perfect representation of my dad, who we used to call Papai since most of our childhood was spent in Brazil. On the left, the handsome, debonair businessman courting my young Mom, he was 12 years older. On the right, the goofy, funny guy who loved to play pranks. I guess that is where I got my playful side from 😉
He was an amateur actor in his youth. It was particularly nice for me when I went back to Constanza more than 80 years later, to see the theater where he had acted. He is the one in the center next to the lady in this picture.
My dad had his own Ship Chandler business in Romania. A ship chandler is a retail dealer who specializes in supplies and equipment for ships. When the Nazis came to Romania he was able to help Jewish people escape by finding them places with departing ships. When the Communists took over Romania he was able to leave because he had a Greek passport. He started anew several times in his life. From Romania he went to Italy. After 5 years in Italy he moved to Brazil and after 11 years in Brazil he moved to Greece.
Leaving Romania and moving to Italy was very hard for him. He had to leave behind his business , his apartment and everything he owned in Bucharest. In Rome he worked for a friend but business was hard after the war and he would go several months without being paid. This was especially hard for him who was responsible for taking care of his family and he was also a ‘bon-vivant’ used to good food, nice clothes and the finer things of life.
Starting all over again in Brazil, he went to work for a ship chandler’s business in Rio de Janeiro. In Greece he worked for a shipping magnate and traveled all around the world.
He was a very honest man. Ship chandlers had the ability of making a lot of money with dodgy deals. When my Mom asked him how come we were not as rich as other ship chandlers he replied that ‘he liked to be able to put his head on the pillow at night knowing that he had had an honest day of work’.
In Brazil, on weekends he used to take us out at sea to visit the ships that he serviced. It was a great treat for me as we had to take a speed boat to go there and the captains would bring us presents from their countries and offer us a meal prepared by their crew of different nationalities. I think this is how I got to like so many different cuisines.
He was very funny and loved to play pranks. Once, on an April’s fool day he went to his office very early in the morning before everyone else and moved all the desks around so that when people arrived they found everything was in the wrong place.
My fondest memory of him is when he came to visit me in the States. This picture is the last picture we have of him and it is from that visit. I am so sorry that both my parents died young and my children did not get a chance to know them. They would have been fantastic grandparents.
When he came, I was 8 months pregnant and while I was having a nap he ironed all my clothes. This from a Greek man who never did anything at home, he made sure to ask me not to tell my Mom what he had done. Actually, never did anything at home is not quite right. He did like to cook. He made a fantastic rabbit stew.
He died of complications after an operation for removing gall bladder stones. He came out of the operation unable to swallow. Doctors in Greece could not find out what was wrong until he went to a specialist clinic in Oxford. There, they found out that his throat was so badly inflamed as if it had been burnt. They suspected that there might have been tube inserted in his throat that might have caused a tear and a subsequent infection. They were going to fix it by removing the part of the oesophagus that was damaged but he needed to recover his strength beforehand because he had lost so much weight. They inserted a tube directly in his stomach to feed him but the tube came out of place and caused peritonitis. I was in the States at that time and unfortunately did not get to see him and say good bye.
