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Featured Bio:

John Cocoris

b. 9/17/1877 (Leonido, Greece) – d. 1944 (Duval County) (Greek Heritage)

“He was born in Leonidio, Kynouria on September 17, 1877. He was the son of Michail and Stamatina Kokoris. In 1895, he migrated to New York, where he worked for a sponge trader.

In 1905, John Cocoris presented his sponge collecting technique in Tarpon Springs. He introduced special equipment with diving suits, which, oddly enough, were unknown to America until then. Cocoris brought sponge divers from the Dodecanese and Halki. As a result, the town had a booming sponge industry by 1930, that generated millions of dollars every year.” (Pan Arcadian Federation of America).


*Secretary of State Richard Stone at dedication ceremony of historical marker in Tarpon Springs, Florida.*	*Memorial plaque to John Cocoris - Tarpon Springs, Florida. John Cocoris founded the sponge diving industry in 1905 in Tarpon Springs.*	*Sponge Fishing at Tarpon Springs Florida: The Most Unique Industry in the World by A. W. Santway.*
*1973*	*2003*	*1929 (circa)*
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*Tarpon Springs Centennial Celebration, 1987 – program.*	*Painting and memorial plaque to John Cocoris outside the sponge exchange - Tarpon Springs, Florida.*	*A statue commemorating the Greek sponge divers in Tarpon Springs. Florida Historical Society.*
*1987*	*2003*	*2017*
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