Nick Galifianakis

Nick Galifianakis (July 22, 1928—March 27, 2023)

Former Congressman Nick Galifianakis died peacefully in his sleep, with a characteristic smile on his face, Tuesday morning. His death followed a decade’s long struggle with Parkinson’s disease.

Nick Galifianakis, born in and a resident of Durham for most of his life, was the oldest of five sons of proud Greek immigrants, Emmanuel “Mike” and Sophia Kastrinakis Galifianakis. Mike was founder and half-owner of Durham’s legendary Lincoln Café, a workman’s haven, that de facto integrated decades before the Civil Rights era. Nick’s biographer John Semonche writes: Mike who became a U.S. citizen in 1926, “was a generous soul, who would feed the hungry during the depression of the 1930s and always asserted that one’s highest duty was to love and serve one’s country.”

A natural athlete, Nick excelled in sports and in the classroom. Following his junior year in high school he was chosen to attend North Carolina’s Boys State then headed by Albert Coates, founder of the state’s famed Institute of Government. Nick’s leadership talent was immediately recognized by his counselors, Terry Sanford and William Friday, who encouraged him to run for Boys State Governor. After winning, as Boys State Governor, Nick crusaded for legislation to reform the state’s lagging health care and public education systems.

Nick attended Duke University as a Town Student and completed his undergraduate and law degrees through a six-year program. Graduating in 1953, he joined the Marine Corps and served aboard the USS Cambria as a member of the Sixth Fleet combat-ready peacekeeping force in the Mediterranean. Always a proud Marine, Nick remained in the Corps well after he left Congress, eventually retiring as a Lt. Colonel in the Reserves.

When he was discharged from active duty, Nick returned to Durham and established a law practice with Roger Upchurch; additionally, he taught in the Duke University School of Law and Department of Economics. Throughout his life, Nick was involved in innumerable and varied civic activities. In 1963 he was named “Young Man of the Year” by the North Carolina Junior Chamber of Commerce. He also was a devoted lifetime member and stalwart leader of Saint Barbara Greek Orthodox Church in Durham.

In 1960 Nick’s friends drafted him to run for the General Assembly. A reluctant candidate, Nick felt he was left little choice when, at the eleventh hour, he learned that 36 Duke colleagues contributed 50 cents each to pay the $18 filing fee.

Although never well-funded, Nick’s campaigns were family affairs; his, by then far-flung, clan was sometimes called the Southern Kennedys. Mama Sofia was frequently at headquarters dispensing homemade Greek pastries. Nick loved the campaign trail and was truly a “Happy Warrior.”

During three terms as a State Representative, Nick allied himself with Governor Terry Sanford’s progressive administration. Nick fought to provide needed infrastructure for the fledgling Research Triangle Park and pushed the State Board of Education to create the North Carolina Board of Science and Technology. He was a leader in the creation of the Department of Community Colleges which, over time, led to the vast expansion of community colleges throughout North Carolina. He sponsored legislation creating the North Carolina School of the Arts and the Governor’s School. Additionally, he was instrumental in establishing the State Department of Mental Health. He walked 19 miles of the unfinished portion of I-85 — between Henderson and Durham — to pressure the Highway Commission to complete the final 40 miles, the missing link between Richmond and Atlanta.

In 1968 Nick won an uphill run-off primary to become the Democratic nominee for North Carolina’s Fifth Congressional District. The upset even surprised his own Press Secretary Jim Shrodes; Shrodes later reflected: “He could walk into a room full of strangers and walk away with a band of eager committed loyalists.”

Newspapers explained how Nick campaigned with what was then perceived as an unpronounceable name. Dividing his name and putting it on, not one, but two campaign buttons — one with “Galifi,” the other “anakis” — drew national attention. On the campaign trail Nick quipped that his name “started with a Gal and ended with a Kiss.”

In Congress, Nick won the “Fishbait Miller Award,” bestowed by the powerful longtime House Doorkeeper to the “Most Outstanding Freshman Representative.” Nick was a new kind of Southern Democrat who paved the way for the likes of Richardson Preyer, David Price and the new breed of Southern Progressives that followed them to Congress. He is credited as the first modern Southern Congressman to hire a Black staffer. Nick was an ardent supporter of the equal rights amendment and he helped break another glass ceiling by promoting his female Assistant Director to Chief of Staff.

During three terms in the House, Nick served on the House Committee on Banking and Currency and the powerful Appropriations Committee. He was an early Congressional Democratic critic of the Vietnam War. Effective non-partisan constituent service was a Galifianakis hallmark; Nick was the first member of the House from North Carolina to maintain a full-time staffed office back in the district. Senator Sam Ervin, Jr. observed, “Congressman Galifianakis does the best job of any congressman I know in representing the district.”

In 1972, following the third reapportionment of his House district, Nick sought and won the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate. Nick led his Republican opponent in the polls until late October when he was overtaken by a last-minute, thinly veiled, xenophobic, segregationist media blitz — claiming Richard Nixon needed Nick’s opponent in Washington.

Although seldom agreeing with the positions espoused by the Republican winner, for the remainder of his life, Nick refused to criticize the outcome of the election or engage in personal attacks on his former opponent.

In 1974, seeking to replace the retiring Sam Ervin, Jr. in the Senate, in what proved to be his final race, Nick became the first Southern political leader to call for the impeachment of Richard Nixon. Although the run was unsuccessful Nick left a lasting political legacy. Throughout the rest of his life, he often encountered local and state officials who told him that they had first become interested in public service after working in one of his campaigns or because they were inspired by his career. Decades later, strangers would stop him and sing the jingle that Arthur Smith had written for one of his reelection campaigns.

In 1988, Nick served on Governor Michael Dukakis’ North Carolina Steering Committee and was a Dukakis Delegate to the Democratic National Convention.

Unlike the practice of many of his peers who left elective office, Nick never sought to profit, as a lobbyist or otherwise, from his years of public service. He quietly returned to his Durham-based law practice. A lawyer’s lawyer and master legal tactician, he devoted the same tireless energy to poor and downtrodden clients, as to the rich and famous whom he sometimes represented. And Nick unselfishly mentored generations of up-and-coming attorneys. He continued practicing law into his late 80s.

With the onset of Parkinson’s, Nick and Louise moved to The Cardinal at North Hills in Raleigh to be closer to their family.

Survivors include his wife of over 60 years, Louise, daughter Katherine, son Jon Mark (Jennifer), grandchildren Nicholaus and Zoe, brothers Mike (Frances), Peter (Janet), John and a plethora of nieces and nephews. He is predeceased by his parents, daughter Stephenie, brother Harry and son-in-law Michael Brackney.

The family will receive at Hall-Wynne Funeral Home, 1113 West Main Street, Durham, N.C. from 4-7 p.m. Friday March 31, 2023. Services will be at Saint Barbara Greek Orthodox Church, 8306, NC Highway 751, Durham, N.C., Saturday April 1 at 11:00 a.m.

Memorial gifts may be made to: St. Barbara Greek Orthodox Church, the Parkinson’s Foundation or the American Red Cross.