Marilyn/Manny Rouvelas
Kuku made everyone feel special and loved, always inquiring about us, our family and causes before we had a chance to ask about hers. We especially admired her support of her devoted husband, Paul, not only at the magazine, but in his celebration of his Greek heritage. We'll never forget her beaming face when Paul received an award from the American Hellenic Institute in March, 2017, for his outstanding service in the Greek and American communities. This was a black-tie affair with Kuku wearing a beautiful silk saree and Paul a tux. Their children and close family members surrounded them at a round table sparkling with candles, wine glasses, and joy. This is the lovely Kuku, supportive and beautiful, we will always remember. May her memory always be eternal. Love, Marilyn and Manny Rouvelas
Amy Swan
Her emails always started out with asking how I was, or how my kids were, and she really meant it — she was genuine, good-hearted, caring, and kind — it wasn't just small talk with Kuku.
Allie Mizerek
❤️
Markos Kounalakis
Just by being in her presence.
M France
It was my great good luck to have arranged flowers with Kukula. Those Saturdays that we spent creating floral arrangements for two pedestal stands on either side of the Redeemer altar were our “play dates,” as she called them, as we drove across town to select flowers at the wholesaler.

Invariably, Kukula chose exotic and daring combinations, which were often revelations, because she found winning ways to pair the incongruous into a pleasing whole. She had a strong sense of design and a flair for the original. Yet she was down to earth and easy to work with as we cross-critiqued each other’s creation.

Straightforward honesty was part of her makeup (I’m not crazy about what you have going on in the back row … ) as she threw herself into these efforts toward the effect she wished to achieve. Needless to say, we were never satisfied. Our creations were never as good as what we saw in our mind’s eye. The beauty we were looking for was beyond us, of course: the beauty of holiness. How I wish I had sought out my flower playmate more often. Floral art was one of Kukula's many talents, one that displayed so many of her other talents and virtues.
Haley Edwards
What Matt said. Kuku had a way of looking at people and actually seeing them, of listening and actually hearing. She asked questions, remembered details, followed up about confidences told to her months ago. And always, she looked into people's eyes, nodding, mouth slightly open, leaning onto a table, intent on understanding. If she was listening to a friend, she was never rushed. She exuded warmth.

I would add, too, that she had one of the most easy, joyful laughs I've ever had the pleasure of experiencing -- and she gave it away generously. I remember hearing her laughing down the hallway, in the kitchen, through the office walls. I remember, also, her outbursts of fury at the latest abomination on the news, of her yelling, incensed, at the TV. I will so miss that unique, Kuku Alchemy -- a lightheartedness combined with an uncompromising moral compass. Pure gold.

It's become something of a cliche to eulogize someone as "a light that has gone out," but Kuku, more than most, seems deserving of that metaphor. She was certainly a source of light for me, a light of joy and compassion and humility. She lived a generous life, fierce and loyal and good, and made the rest of us feel we could do that too.
Norman Kelley
Matthew Cooper
It would start with her eyes, large and lingering, gazing right at you and not the next person to speak with. She remembered everything about you and your kid and your date and your parents. She was tactile and kind. "Dear" was a common moniker. And then there was the food: The dolmades and pastitsio and curries and glasses always being refilled and a kitchen always humming. I met her when I was a kid in my 20s and she told me that she and Paul had read my Washington Monthly application on their honeymoon and she remembered some thing I'd written about Nathan Glazer and Irving Kristol when I college student. She never really forgot anything. I'm going to hold on to every memory of her.
Greg Garcia
A simple and genuine hug at greeting and goodbye, calling me "dear."