As a boy, Pericles "Perry" Caranicas fled his village of Volos, Greece, with relatives. As they chugged up a hill in an old electric company truck, he watched in fright as Italian planes dropped bombs into the harbor.

Caranicas was only 5 years old when he first saw the horrors of war. It was 1940, when Hitler wanted to use the Italian Army to take over Greece to open a path to Africa. Then came the German occupation and a county torn apart by a brutal civil war for years more.

Caranicas set out for America as a teen. He became a quality control consultant for General Mills, Heinz and other companies, and over the years played a significant role in Minnesota politics.

Caranicas, of Minneapolis, died Aug. 19 — 60 years to the day after immigrating to the United States. He was 78.

"I hope he's remembered as a person who cared about things, who cared about people," said his wife of 56 years, Doris Caranicas.

Perry Caranicas had the kind of face and persona people didn't forget, including at the Black Forest restaurant, where he was a regular. He was witty, charismatic and ebullient. In his quiet moments, he'd make a soft clicking noise with his kompoloi (worry beads).

"He was bigger than life, so he was a very visible person at a precinct caucuses, at a political meeting, at a fundraiser," said former state Sen. Carol Flynn. She met Caranicas at a 1968 precinct caucus — a big guy with an accent at the back of the room. After that, he never did sit down, she said. His increasing involvement led to being a delegate from the Fifth Congressional District to the Democratic National Party Issues Conference in Kansas City.

"He was always at a microphone, pacing with his worry beads," she said. "In part, he kept things going at all our conventions. … Things just get bogged down, and his contribution at those conventions was to keep them going, getting the work done, getting an endorsement out the door."

At 18, Caranicas sailed on a Turkish boat from Athens to Naples and arrived in New York. He had come for a Fulbright scholarship, and also had financing from a millionaire at the University of Wisconsin.

He earned bachelor's and master's degrees in civil engineering from the University of Minnesota, where he and Doris met as students.

Perry and Doris Caranicas were heavily involved in DFL politics all their lives. He became adept at leading a "walking subcaucus," in which he'd round up support for a candidate.

For years, Doris Caranicas was campaign treasurer for former U.S. Rep. Martin Sabo, D-Minn, as well as for Flynn. Sabo called the couple "two people who were involved in the nitty-gritty of getting a political party working."

Sabo said Perry Caranicas was "always an interesting, pleasant person to be with. But also, he cared deeply about political issues. He was involved in the process because he was concerned over the substance of what government did."

Though Perry Caranicas had been asked more than once to run for public office, he preferred to work behind the scenes on issues and DFL endorsements, family and friends said. Still, by his nature and joyful personality, "If Perry was around, you were aware of his presence," Sabo said.

A lover of food, he threw many Greek fundraisers for political candidates.

"He was good at working a crowd, for sure," son Andy Caranicas said, "and he wanted to be part of pushing through changes or getting those elected who would push that agenda."

Joan Growe, secretary of state from 1975 to 1999, said Caranicas "cared a lot" about election integrity and political issues.

In addition to his wife and sons Andy and Charlie, survivors include two grandsons and a brother, John.

Services have been held.