Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty presented Greek-American Angelo K. Tsakopoulos with the city’s key this week, marking both his 90th birthday and 75 years since he arrived in the United States from Rizes, in the Tegea region of Arcadia, Greece.
“From building over 40,000 homes to donating resources for schools, libraries, museums and hospitals, Angelo Tsakopoulos has shaped Sacramento for the better,” McCarty said.
The figure of more than 40,000 homes is independently documented by California State University, Sacramento, which notes that Tsakopoulos built more than 40,000 homes and 30 million square feet of office space after beginning his real estate business in Sacramento in 1963. The university also credits him with donating land for schools, art galleries, museums, hospitals and senior facilities.
But the story of Tsakopoulos is not simply one of real estate. It is also a story about what an immigrant leaves behind.
From Rizes to California
Tsakopoulos came to the United States at the age of 15. He first arrived through New York and spent a year in Chicago before moving to California, where he eventually settled in the Sacramento area.
At California State University, Sacramento, he studied political science and business while supporting himself as a waiter and real estate salesman. He also boxed for the university.
Those early years would eventually lead to a career that transformed him into one of Sacramento’s best-known developers and philanthropists.
He began his real estate business in Sacramento in 1963, and his company went on to develop tens of thousands of homes and millions of square feet of commercial space throughout Northern and Central California.
Yet the connection with his university—and with education more broadly—never disappeared.
Tsakopoulos has supported scholarships, literary programs and real estate studies at Sacramento State. His philanthropy has also extended across the Sacramento region, including educational, cultural and health institutions.
That commitment to education provides perhaps the most revealing clue to what he chose to build beyond homes and office buildings.
A Greek library thousands of miles from Greece
At California State University, Sacramento stands the Tsakopoulos Hellenic Collection, a major research collection devoted to Greek history and culture.
The collection forms part of the university’s Special Collections and University Archives and anchors the university’s Hellenic Studies programs. Sacramento State describes it as a research collection of international significance, attracting scholars through its Hellenic Research Fellowship Program.
The collection has grown substantially since it was established. Recent accounts place its holdings at more than 80,000 volumes, alongside rare books, archival material, art and other resources connected with Greece, Cyprus and the wider Hellenic world.
Its significance is not simply measured by the number of books.
For Greek studies in the American West, it has become a place where scholars can research the language, history, literature and culture of the Hellenic world without being thousands of miles from the communities whose history they study.
Collections have also continued to be added. In recent years, additional Greek-American and Hellenic materials have been transferred to Sacramento State, further expanding its resources for researchers.
For an immigrant who left Greece as a teenager, the creation and growth of such a collection represents a different kind of development—one measured not in acres or buildings, but in knowledge preserved for future generations.
A Greek-American legacy in Sacramento
Tsakopoulos has also remained an influential figure within the Greek-American community.
His daughter, Eleni Tsakopoulos Kounalakis, went on to serve as U.S. Ambassador to Hungary and later as Lieutenant Governor of California, extending the family’s presence in California public life well beyond business.
Tsakopoulos has also maintained longstanding connections in Democratic political circles and has played a prominent role in Greek-American organizations, including the National Hellenic Society.
His influence has extended beyond real estate into philanthropy, education, culture and public life, reflecting a decades-long involvement in both California and the Greek-American community.
More than a business success story
There is an understandable temptation to reduce Tsakopoulos’s story to numbers: thousands of homes, millions of square feet, decades in real estate.
But the more interesting measure of his life may be what remains after the buildings are finished.
There are scholarships that allow students to study. Cultural institutions that preserve history. Libraries that give researchers access to Greek sources. Hospitals, schools and community organizations that have benefited from his philanthropy.
And there is a collection at Sacramento State that connects generations of Americans with the history and culture of a country that a 15-year-old boy left behind 75 years ago.
That is what makes the Key to the City more than a symbol of business success.
It recognizes a Greek immigrant who became part of the story of Sacramento—and who, in the process, carried a piece of Greece with him.
At 90, Angelo Tsakopoulos has now been in America for three quarters of a century.
The key to Sacramento is one way of marking that journey.
The books, archives and institutions he helped create may ultimately be another.
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