By Demetrios Rhompotis

Another newly-elected, County Executive Edward Mangano (who in no small part owes his victory to Maragos), was in attendance, as well as Greek American New York State Senator Dean Skelos, New York State Supreme Court Justice Stephen Bucaria, Nassau County Clerk Maureen O'Connell and New York City Councilman Dan Halloran.

There were also a number of Nassau County Legislators, as well as George Demos, who’s running for US Congress from Suffolk County, and many Greek-American friends and supporters. It didn’t take long after the ceremony for the event to turn Greek, as festive traditional music poured out in abundance and everybody joined in dancing!

"I will watch your money as my own," Maragos, a Republican, said at his acceptance speech. “As Comptroller I will implement better budget planning and strong oversight of spending to ensure that the tax dollars are well spent and value is received. I will fix the Tax Assessment System and modernize the County Government computer systems across all agencies to deliver millions in savings and eliminate waste and fraud. I will help achieve a better more efficient County Government that can reduce taxes for homeowners and break the government mentality that it can always take from the residents. I look forward to a vigorous but positive campaign to restore the Nassau County to fiscal health and responsibility.”

Comptroller Maragos has over 35 years experience in senior management positions with major financial organizations, including vice president of Chase Manhattan Bank, vice president at Citibank, and in the last 20 years, as chief executive officer of his own company in financial services. He holds a masters in business administration (finance) and a bachelors in electrical engineering.

His son Angelo, who himself ran for City Council (District #26), and managed to get a significant percentage of voters in an area where the Republican Party doesn’t even bother to show up, introduced his father and traced his first steps in America, which represented a completely new world for him.

“My father was born on the small Ionian island of Lefkada in Greece and immigrated with his family as a young boy - all of them speaking only Greek, without any wealth to speak of, and with no prior experience to help them navigate their new, foreign society.” However, “for my father and his brothers, these proved to be no obstacles. They had the love and strength of their family - and they had opportunities limited only by their imaginations. The rest was hard work and the motivation to succeed.”

Indeed, all Maragos brothers, Steve, Spiro and Joseph showed up for the occasion, having traveled with their families from Montreal, Canada, where they reside and where the new Nassau County Comptroller arrived at the age of 9 before moving to New York. Joining them were a group of friends also originating from Lefkada, among them entrepreneurs John Zoitas, Thomas Zoitas, Nick Katopodis, Christos Vrettos and Vangelis Gerasimou with their families.