Restaurateur and civic leader Jimmy Patronis Sr. planted seeds of community

Jimmy Patronis Sr., one of Panama City’s longest quiet leaders and the brains behind Capt. Anderson’s Restaurant and Waterfront Market, a hub of this fishing town he owned with his brother for more than 50 years, died early Thursday after a long illness. He was 88.

He leaves behind a thriving family, a restaurant and winery staffed by as many as 175 employees serving up to 1,800 customers a night, and a legacy.

He took no customers for granted, even as the restaurant more than tripled in size and customers entered in bunches.

“Jimmy would always come to the table and talk to you, and you felt honored when he did,” said Jay Trumbull Sr., a longtime friend.

Jimmy or his older brother, co-owner Johnny Patronis, worked hand in glove to make sure someone was keeping the restaurant humming. They made big decisions with little fuss, sharing bank accounts and an interchangeable schedule.

If Johnny was working the morning shift, Jimmy worked the evening, and vice versa. The next day the Brothers switched shifts. Whoever had to come in the morning didn’t need to return until the next night. Jimmy and Johnny ran Capt. Anderson’s six days a week for half a century.

Asked how the Brothers resolved any sibling quarrels, Johnny said, “To tell you the truth, we never had one. That’s the truth. Minor differences, but not enough to think about quitting or separating. It never got anywhere close to that.”

Jimmy’s buttoned-up style suited him as the restaurant’s face and idea man. “He was much more serious than Johnny,” Trumbull said. “But he could be very funny himself. Jimmy was a little more controlled and had a dry sense of humor, which was great.”

The restaurant ebbed and flowed with the same semiconscious rhythms, its habits synchronized like the tides that brought in the fishing boats every afternoon, unloading fresh catch as early-bird diners looked on. Its market sold fish to those same customers on the way to their cars. The entire cycle peaked in the summertime and ebbed in mid-October when Capt. Anderson closed its doors until mid-February.

“If you’re going to lose money, you might as well have fun,” Johnny said.

Jimmy Patronis was born Jan. 19, 1931, in Tallahassee. His father, Theo Patronis, came to the United States from Patmos, Greece, in 1921. Theo and his wife Evangelia ran a nickel hot dog shop adjacent to the Capitol building.

The Brothers went opened up a restaurant in Panama City, calling it the Seven Seas after a Miami restaurant with a similar name. Along the way, Jimmy married Helen Clodis. The couple raised four sons who, like all of the other Patronis kids, grandkids, nieces and nephews would work in Capt. Anderson’s, which Jimmy and Johnny bought in 1967.

“We did quite a bit of real estate,” Johnny said. “If I liked something, he’d say, ‘OK, let’s do it.’ If he liked something, I’d say, ‘OK, we’ll do it.’ As long as you have more winners than losers you’re doing OK.”

 Thousands of Northern transplants were doing real estate too.

“We saw Bay County change,” Johnny said. “When we came here there was nothing. And today you look at it, there’s something like 16,000 condo units on our beach. I think we could kind of see what the future was going to be like.”

They bought property with deer and wild pig and a natural spring. Jimmy’s sons grew up and pursued four different careers, all successfully. Jimmy Jr. is Florida’s Chief Financial Officer. Another son, Theo, started the restaurant’s award-winning winery.

Capt. Anderson’s celebrated its 50th anniversary under the Patronises in 2017. In October 2018, the city faced perhaps its greatest test when Hurricane Michael hit the Panhandle as a Category 4, washing out roads and leveling thousands of homes. The restaurant fared better than most, and sent refrigerated trucks with food and drinks and ice into the hardest-hit areas. They pushed tables together and treated famished first responders to hot meals.

Around the same time, Jimmy Patronis was feeling the effects of Parkinson’s disease. He still showed up to the restaurant as his mind deteriorated, issuing instructions few had time to listen to.

Johnny Patronis had long since left the restaurant in the hands of his nephews. He wishes his brother could have enjoyed his health longer but marvels at his accomplishments, including another generation of Patronis kids working at Capt. Anderson’s.

“I think the thing I cherish more than anything was our relationship,” he said.

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Jimmy Patronis Sr.

Born: Jan. 19, 1931

Died: Jan. 9, 2020

Survivors: wife, Helen; sons, Theo, Yonnie, Nick and Jimmy; brother, Johnny; sister, Chrisoula Skaroulis; seven granddaughters; three grandsons; and two great-grandchildren.

Service: 12 p.m. CST Monday, Jan. 13; First Baptist Church, 640 Grace Ave., the Rev. George Dursa officiating. Burial following the service at Evergreen Memorial Gardens Cemetery, 3733 U.S. 231. The family will receive friends from 3 to 6 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 12, at the Wilson Funeral Home, 214 Airport Road, Panama City.

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Andrew Meacham is a writer living is St. Petersburg. He worked for the Tampa Bay Times for 14 years, retiring in December 2018 as performing arts critic.