Thursday Panopoulos: Ont ., and Hawaiian Pizza

thursday panopoulos: According to an obituary by his family, Sam Panopoulos had been in hospital in London, Ont., when he died suddenly on Thursday, according to The Chronicle Herald. Panopoulos was born in Greece and emigrated to Canada in 1954, where he and his two brothers operated a number of restaurants. The Greek-Canadian man who said he was the first to put pineapple on pizza has died at the age of 83. Over the years, he told various media outlets that he made the first Hawaiian pizza in 1962 at the Satellite Restaurant in Chatham, Ont., after deciding that chunks of canned pineapple might make a tasty topping. One of Panopoulos' sons described his father as a dedicated family man who wasn't looking to get famous. But his claim to pineapple on pizza isn't undisputed some people on some websites suggested the dish was invented in Australia, while others still say it sprung from a German dish of ham, cheese and pineapple on toast. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.