Fotini (Rizas) Anastasis

In Memory of Fotitsa Rizas Anastasis: February 18, 1940-December 10, 2025

Fotini (Fotitsa) Rizas Anastasis was born February 18, 1940, in the village of Kattavia on the Island of Rhodes in Greece. She was the oldest of four children born to Petros and Maria Rizas. Her siblings were Yianni , Triantafilos known as Filli, and Apostolos.  “Fotitsa”,as she is known to many,  was a very caring and generous person.  She always had a smile on her face and a kind word to say to everyone. She loved her relatives and made friends easily. She was the first one to show up at a relative’s or friend’s house when they were in need. Fotitsa loved her son Peter and his family. His wife Rasa was a wonderful and caring daughter to her. Fotitsa adored her two grandchildren Tsambika and Augustis and they adored their Yiayia. They have many stories and memories to share about their loving grandmother. She was also a loving aunt to her nephews Paul, Peter and niece Maria.

Fotitsa, along with her husband Thanasi, daughter Tsambika, grandmother, mother, and brothers came to the United States in 1965. Her youngest brother, Apostolos, and her father had both passed away suddenly just a few months before they were slated to arrive in America. When the family arrived in Baltimore, they bonded with their aunts, uncles and cousins thus presenting them with an extended family. Fotitsa and Thanasi were blessed to have a beautiful and healthy son Peter who was born in the United States. They were a loving family. Fotitsa worked as a seamstress and later assisted her husband when they opened up Pizza parlors and restaurants . She was a fabulous cook. Her dolmathes or “yaprakia” were the best She could mince an onion like nobody’s business. She loved to garden, had a green thumb and loved sharing her produce with others.  Fotitsa was also a great baker. 

She loved to fish and would enjoy going to Ocean City to fish. One time she filled a bathtub up with fish to bring home from the beach. She liked to knit and made a beautiful Afghan for her son and daughter in law. 

The greatest loss in her life, was the passing of her dear daughter Tsambika in 1991 at the age of 26. This devastated her and she wore black the rest of her life. 

She will be missed by her nephew Paul and his wife Debbie along with their children Yianni, Paraskevi, and Tsambika . Her nephew Peter and his wife Candus. Her niece Maria and her husband Antoni and their children Nikola and Yianni and her sister-in-law Georgia. But most of all she will be missed by her son Peter his wife Rasa and their two exceptional children Tsambika and Augustis

The family will receive guests on Monday, December 15th, 2025 from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, 520 South Ponca Street, Baltimore, MD 21224, where a funeral service will be at 11 a.m. Interment will follow in Oak Lawn Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that donations be made in her memory to either St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church or the St. Paraskevi Society.

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