John J. Zervoulei, 72
John Zervoulei of Springs, who had owned men’s hairpiece businesses and a jazz club in New York City, died on Nov. 21 at Southampton Hospital. Mr. Zervoulei, who was 72, had developed emphysema as a result of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
His businesses in New York, for which he served as designer and stylist, included Head Start Hair for Men. Men came to his shops not only to deal with hair loss, but sometimes to conceal their natural hair. He styled short-haired wigs for men with long hair whose jobs required short cuts. Through his work, he had occasion to travel often to France, and became quite the Francophile, said his son, John Michael Zervoulei.
A jazz fan, he opened a club of his own called 55 Grand in Lower Manhattan in the early 1980s. Mike Stern, a guitarist who played with Miles Davis, lived upstairs, and he and Davis’s other band members often hung out at the club, making it a hotspot for fusion jazz, his son said.
Mr. Zervoulei was born in New York’s Little Italy on May 27, 1944, a son of James Zervoulei, a Greek immigrant, and the former Mary Zito. He grew up in Little Italy near Old St. Patrick’s, attended La Salle Academy, and graduated from Seward Park High School.
He met his future wife, Caroline DePietro, when they were teenagers. They were married in 1968.
They lived in Peter Cooper Village in Lower Manhattan. A sailing enthusiast, Mr. Zervoulei owned a Morgan 27 racing boat that he would race out of Sheepshead Bay.
The couple split their time between New York and Springs between 2000 and 2005, when they moved here full time.
In addition to his wife and son, who lives in New York, Mr. Zervoulei is survived by eight nieces and nephews and five great-nieces and great-nephews. His parents and his younger brother, Charles Zervoulei, died before him.
He was cremated, and had requested that his ashes be spread in Paris. A memorial service will be announced on the Yardley and Pino Funeral Home website in the future.
Contributions have been suggested to Southampton Hospital, 240 Meeting House Lane, Southampton 11968-5090.