George F. Marmaras, who arrived penniless from his native Greece and established successful Baltimore restaurants, died of congestive heart failure Dec. 23 at Gilchrist Center Towson. The Perry Hall and Lutherville resident was 90.

In his 70 years in Baltimore, Mr. Marmaras owned and operated cafeterias at the Locust Point and Dundalk Marine Terminals, two Double T Diner locations and restaurants at Lake Falls, Hamilton and Pikesville.

After World War II, Mr. Marmaras, who was born in the village of Sineti on the island of Andros, Greece, became a crew member on a Norwegian freighter. He had completed five years of formal education and never mastered reading or writing in English.

His father had asked him to leave the family and send money home to help them and save for his two sisters’ dowries.

“When his ship docked in New York, Mr. Marmaras walked away. After washing dishes and mopping floors in Manhattan, he was picked up by immigration officials and sent to rejoin the shipping line in Alabama,” said a 1995 Sun story. After landing in California, he turned to another young Greek and said: “I’m ready to go again.”

He arrived in Washington, D.C., where he had relatives, and worked in kitchens at the Mayflower and Shoreham hotels. He said he slept on park benches at night.

He soon settled in Baltimore with an uncle Jack and aunt Helen Marmaras, who had a lunch wagon patronized by Baltimore City College students. He worked at a Light Street supermarket, Mischanton’s Restaurant in Eastpoint and downtown Baltimore’s Oyster Bay.

He recalled walking from the Alameda to Light Street in the early 1950s, and by 1956 he was parking a lunch wagon at the front gate of the Dundalk Marine Terminal.

For the next 39 years he worked at the marine terminal and its counterpart at Locust Point. He built a free-standing restaurant in 1965 and leased a half-acre. He enlarged the restaurant three times and signed a 12-year lease in 1993 for $780 a month. He served 600 to 900 breakfasts and lunches a day.

He worked with his brothers, Anthony, Michael and Nicholas, who assisted him at the marine terminals. They sold the Locust Point operation when business at the port temporarily declined.

In 1985, when another business opportunity came along, he bought the Double T Diner in Rosedale. He later acquired an eyesore — a seedy motel next door — and had it burned by the Baltimore County Fire Department for training exercises. The site later became parking.

“Just because you have a monopoly doesn’t mean people can’t go out and eat somewhere else,” he said in 1995, when he tried to retire and failed. “If you don’t treat the public right, you’re finished.”

Ever the entrepreneur — he became a U.S. citizen in 1965 — he brought two of his brothers to help him. He also established other food businesses. He bought the old Lake Falls Drive In on Falls Road near Mount Washington and renamed it Pepe’s. He also owned at one time the Golden Seas in Hamilton and the Casa Milano in Pikesville.

Mr. Marmaras, who professed a strong belief in the U.S. economy and enjoying being involved in real estate, also acquired other properties throughout Maryland.

“He told us, ‘You have to know what it’s like to be hungry,’ ” said his daughter, Maria Giannakis. “He was the brains behind his empire and was savvy about business. He was a good chef and had a passion about food.”

Mr. Marmaras lived for many years in Perry Hall and more recently resided with his daughter in Lutherville. He continued to cook at home and delighted his family with his dishes.

“George was magnanimous, caring and helpful. He was a tenacious worker. He didn’t quit. If he saw someone in need, he helped “ said his brother-in-law, Harry J. Sharkey. “When I was first married, and nervous about money, he offered to buy a house for me. I thanked him for his gracious offer but I did not take him up.”

Mr. Marmaras established another diner in Perry Hall in 1997, another Double T Diner. Neighbors initially resisted his idea. He persevered and won governmental permission.

A 1997 Sun article described him: “He is part Athens, part Baltimore, speaking with a heavy Greek accent but wearing a ring with diamonds in the shape of a horseshoe — a reminder of the days he held season tickets for the Baltimore Colts.”

“I see the opportunity this country has got,” said Mr. Marmaras in the Sun’s 1997 profile. “I’m not afraid to work. This country is for me.” The article mentioned his “food is made to order, and the meatloaf comes with ladles of gravy.”

“He loved to cook and watch a Ravens game. We sat together, shared our brotherhood and dined on his stuffed lobster tails with crabmeat or rockfish,” said his brother-in-law, a former school principal who retired from Sunset Elementary on Fort Smallwood Road. “He was someone I could count on for friendship, honesty and integrity, the things that are important.”

Mr. Marmaras was a member of the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Annunciation and Saint Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church.

Services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Friday at the Chapel of the Greek Orthodox Cemetery in Woodlawn.

Survivors include his daughter, Maria Giannakis of Lutherville; a sister, Katerina Kontos of the family home in Sineti, Greece; three grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren. His wife, Peggy Maistros, of 54 years, a former Baltimore Sun worker who worked from home to assist her husband in his business ventures, died in 2015.