Reply Sperie Peter Perakos and wife Natalie (Nikki) Pappas Perakos of Orange, CT, inseparable and united for over 60 years, died respectively on April 5th and April 24th 2021. Both passed peacefully with loved ones at their sides.
Mr. Sperie P. Perakos was born in New Britain, CT, son of the late Peter G. and Julia Ladany Perakos. He was a graduate of Yale University, Pierson College Class of 1938. While later attending Harvard Law School, he was required to return to CT to assist in the family s theater business, founded by his father. Sperie Perakos enjoyed a long and successful career as President and CEO of Connecticut Theatre Associates, owning and operating exhibition theatres throughout CT, MA and NJ. Mr. Perakos was a U.S. Army Veteran of WWII, serving as a Captain in Intelligence in the 448th Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion which participated in the Normandy invasion, specifically at Utah Beach. The 448th subsequently attached to the 35th Infantry Division (part of Gener
Seventy-five years after his war service, Sperie Perakos 38 wins the Legion of Honor.
Brita Belli
Sperie Perkaos ’38 at his home in Connecticut last year. View full image
Sperie Perakos ’38 will receive France’s highest recognition, the Legion of Honor, on October 29 at his home in Connecticut. The award will recognize Perakos’s actions on the battlefields of France during World War II.
Perakos enlisted in the US Army in 1941, several months before Pearl Harbor. As a captain in military intelligence for the 448th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion, attached to the 35th Infantry Division, he fought in Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge, helping the Allies push their way east toward Berlin after the D-Day landings. One of five Perakos brothers to serve during the war, he earned the Bronze Star in 1944.