George Frantzis

George T. Frantzis (1911-1970) was a Greek-American lawyer, school principal, community leader and supporter of the sponge industry in Tarpon Springs, Florida. He authored Strangers At Ithaca: The Story ofthe Spongers of Tarpon Springs (St. Petersburg, FL: Great Outdoors Assoc., 1962), an account of the sponge divers and developmen of the Greek community in Tarpon Springs. Frantzis is listed as a Great Floridian as part of the Great Floridians 2000 program sponsored by the Florida League of Cities and the Florida Department of State.. Frantzis' family has been active in the community for generations.

Frantzis founded the Kalymnian Island Refugee Relief Committee for war relief in 1942. He also organized the Committee for Reorganization of the Sponge Industry in 1955, serving as the group's first president. In January 1943, Frantzis helped Tarpon obtain a 70-ton marble altar from Mount Pentele, Athens, Greece that was part of Greece's entry into the 1939 Worlds Fair. Frantzis was a special secretary to the Greek community of Tarpon Springs and wrote to the Greek Embassy in Washington for the marble to be used in the community's new St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox church (St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Chuch (Tarpon Springs, Florida)).

Frantzis owned several local businesses and the Great Floridian plaque for him is located at the site of his retail building at 715 Dodecanese Boulevard. His book Strangers at Ithaca - The Story of the Spongers of Tarpon Springs was written to record the history of the sponge divers who came to Tarpon and published in 1962.

Theodosios "Ted" Frantzis is his son and Fanitsa Meehan his daughter.