Constantinos "Deno" Mokas

Constantinos “Deno” Mokas, 63, of Wells, ME, formerly of Manchester, NH died December 11, 2024 after a period of declining health. Deno was born in Manchester NH on April 19, 1961, four months after his parents immigrated from Fourka, Greece. He was raised in Manchester amidst a supportive community, by the kindest of parents, and with his older brother, John, leading the way. This left him free to thrive in academics and sports. His lifelong love of sports began with a basket attached to a garage where he and John played outside with secondhand basketballs during all four seasons.

At Hillside Jr. High, he met many of his lifetime friends and his future wife after getting her attention with a white wash one snowy day. He graduated from Central High School as Valedictorian of the class of 1979 and helped win the Class L basketball championship. Deno went on to earn his Bachelor of Economics degree at Dartmouth College (class of 1983) where he played a bit of basketball, joined the Kappa Sigma Fraternity and became a member of the Sphinx Senior Society. He returned to Dartmouth and earned an MBA at the Amos Tuck School of Business (class of 1990). His friendships from this period were formative and only grew deeper over the years. Deno went on to have a long, successful career in banking and investment management.

With each phase of his life, Deno’s circle of friends expanded. His career in banking brought him to NYC for the Chemical Bank Credit Training Program. In 1985, Beth and Deno married and together revelled in new friendships and drank in the experience of living in the city that never sleeps. After graduate school, Deno joined Massachusetts Financial Services in Boston and found that Portfolio Management opened the floodgates of personal connection. He formed hundreds of relationships, pulling people together from every corner of his life. Later at Citizens in Manchester, he relished the opportunity to get to know his clients, their families, and his peers.

Giving back to the community that helped raise him was important to Deno. He could always be found at the silent auction tables at fundraisers, seeking to bid on experiences to share with friends and family while supporting the work of local nonprofits. Among the organizations with which Deno shared his time and wisdom are: Kiwanis Club of Boston, Camp Allen, The Derryfield School, NH Humanities, Kurn Hattin Homes for Children, and the Rudman Center.

Deno was constantly in motion. He coached his kids’ teams, golfed on courses throughout the world, and biked, skied, and kayaked with anyone brave enough to join his adventures. Several of his kids’ friends had their first snowshoe outing with Deno on the trails of Wells Reserve at Laudholm. During snowstorms, he x-country skied the unplowed streets of Manchester’s North End to say hello to neighbors and make his way to the Backroom. He invited everyone he knew to his annual Deerfield Fair party. He ran the Boston Marathon and jumped into many of his kids’ races to get them across the finish line. He hiked Mt. Washington at the spur of the moment because a buddy was going, and biked the 50-mile Killer Bee Ride from Concord to Waterville several times.

“Come look at the moon”, or the stars or the ocean or the deer, he would say regularly and drag whomever was nearest to marvel at the sight. An avid Springsteen fan, he brought scores of friends to their first concert and saw shows spanning decades and countries. He saw his last show with his children just weeks ago in Montreal. On the drive home they stopped for a tour of the Dartmouth Campus.

Retiring in 2021, he and Beth moved to Drakes Island, Maine. There he was surrounded by a community of dear neighbors and friends new and old. He volunteered at Habitat for Humanity Restore, found friendship among a very special pickleball gang, and walked the beach with his dog Mulligan. His children moved back to Maine from their travels in Colorado and California to be close to Deno and Beth in his final years. Visits from his dearest friends, family dinners, nightly Jeopardy, walks in Laudholm Reserve and perhaps too frequent ice cream indulgences marked the slowing cadence of his wonderful life.

Deno had an enormous, joyful presence. It may sound like hyperbole, but he literally never said a cross word to his family nor disparaged a soul. He cherished people and was the embodiment of kindness and love with an outsized passion for life. His family aspires to carry that forward and Live Like Deno.

Family members include his wife of 39 years, Elizabeth (Lachance) Mokas of Wells; his children, George Andrew Mokas and his fiancée Sabina Bains, Anna Elizabeth Mokas, and Elias John Mokas, his parents George* and Soultana* Mokas, brother John Mokas and wife Shelly; siblings-in-law Lynda and Jim Truncellito, Judi and Mark Neville; aunts and uncles Amelia* and Michael* Colombos (godparents), George and Phyllis Zioze*, John Zioze and Lucie Skouteris, Zoitsa Moutsioulis Tzimopoulos*; cousins Despina Tsoutsas and Elias Moutsioulis; Nicholas and Alexandra Colombos, Dean and Melanie Zioze, Haidy Zioze, nieces and nephews Kristen and Pat Houghton, Tim and Rachel Truncellito, Emily and Justin Veverka, Meredith and Paul Ardagna, George Mokas and his fiancée Molly Portela, and Nicholas Mokas; cousins’ children Alexis, Kate and Jack Zioze, Michael, Timothy and Amalia Colombos, and Katarina and Sophia (godchild) Zioze, Alexandra and George Tsoutsas; godchildren Alec Kacavas and George Karoutsas. *predeceased

A Celebration of Deno’s life will be held on Saturday, December 21st from 1 to 4 pm at the Manchester Country Club, 180 South River Road, Bedford, NH. 

Instead of sending flowers, Deno would have loved you to support Drew’s work at Save the Children by making any donation in his name using this link:

https://www.savethechildren.org/deno-mokas

To send an online message of condolence, please go to www.lambertfuneralhome.com.

If you have a Deno story or photo to share with the family, please go to

https://www.kudoboard.com/boards/eqb4RpC8/deno-mokas