Remembering Paul Sarbanes

The rural town of Salisbury, Maryland is an unlikely place from which a young man imbued with the high ideals and values of Hellenism would make his way to the world stage. It is in this small town on Maryland's Eastern Shore that on February 3, 1933, Panagiotis Spyros Sarbanes was born, who would in time grow into the legendary Senator Paul S. Sarbanes. Yet, like all of us, his story begins before his birth.

Spyros Sarbanes immigrated to America from the small village of Richea, marrying his fellow Laconian Matina Tsigounis, who had immigrated from the village of Elika. Spyros and Matina owned and operated the Mayflower restaurant in Salisbury, where they worked hard to raise and educate three children, and, yes, Paul Sarbanes worked in the family restaurant too. That's where he learned to start his workday with: "Good morning. How may I help you?" The senator frequently...