When thousands of visitors ascend upon the completed St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine, they will admire its luminescent exterior, take solace in its visitors’ center and devoutly light their candles in memory of loved ones and others memorialized at the World Trade Center.

They will do so in year-round comfort they take for granted in the summer heat and winter cold through the state-of-the-art heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system installed by Peter J. Pappas, of P.J. Mechanical Corp., one of the Archdiocese’s most dynamic lay leaders.

Pappas is chairman of the board of P.J.M Holdings Group that consists of P.J. Mechanical Corp., and three other related companies. P.J. Mechanical is New York City’s largest air conditioning contracting company and ranks among the top 10 nationally.

In addition to being the lead benefactor in the establishment of the church and shrine at the World Trade Center, he is committing more than $1 million in HVAC equipment and mechanical work that his company will perform during the church’s construction.

Pappas has been actively involved with the national Church for many decades, including membership on the Archdiocesan Council for about 30 years, as an Archon of the Ecumenical Patriarchate for 20 years and an Archbishop Iakovos Lead- ership 100 Endowment Fund member, serving on its executive board.

His connection to St. Nicholas Church goes back to early childhood. Of Greek and Cypriot background, he was born and raised in Manhattan’s West Side and grew up attending St. Eleftherios Church, a few blocks north of St. Nicholas. “I visited the church many times as part of my upbringing,” Pappas said, especially the Epiphany celebration which was “very big.” Hundreds of faithful would gather each Jan. 6 for the tossing of the cross into the Hudson River.

Later, he attended New York Univer- sity and studied business and worked at a summer job with an air-conditioning company. “I took a leave of absence from NYU and remained with the company 10 years, studying all aspects of cooling, heating and design.”

In 1971, he started his own company, P.J. Mechanical.

During this time he also became involved at St. Demetrios Church, then located in Freeport on Long Island. He was active in promoting the construction of a new church when the parish relocated in Merrick in the early 1980s. In addition to his membership at St. Demetrios, he also is a parishioner of St. Paul Cathedral in Hempstead and Church of the Resurrec- tion in Brookville, for which he provided all the HVAC system as well.

After the destruction of St. Nicholas Church in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, he did not become involved in the lengthy political process that eventually resulted in the approval of the relocation site of the church, but later was named to the committee that selected the building’s design.

As the process moved forward, Pappas said he “realized there was an issue that I could be involved with” and offered his expertise needed to resolve a serious issue that existed with building the church that had to do with the mechanical equipment needed for cooling and heating.

He felt that the selection of the systems could be improved in terms of getting the most value. He already was familiar with the situation in the area because his company currently is “doing work for a variety of clients on the site.”

Pappas determined that considerable savings could be achieved by connecting the church to the Port Authority’s building services, and met with the architect, Santiago Calatrava, and Port Authority officials to persuade them to allow the use of the below-ground connections that serve the entire ground zero site facility.

He explained that, by piping chilled water from the underground facility’s system, the need for motor-driven compressors is eliminated, resulting in “less costly installation and operations” and a great reduction in noise that will result in enhancing the area around the church.

The HVAC installation will be completed in stages as the construction of the church building progresses.

Compared to the dozens of other clients that Pappas’ company serves, St. Nicholas is a small project. They include some of the largest and most recognizable corporations and institutions in the country, including Yankee Stadium, Citi Field (home of the Mets), CNN, Morgan Stanley, Nike, Polo Ralph Lauren, Estee Lauder, The Bank of America, Canon USA Headquarters, the World Trade Center, Madison Square Garden and the New York Times, to name a few. Pappas’ business interests also include real estate developments in New York, Florida, Ohio and California.

Beyond his service to the Church, he is a noted international philanthropist, having served as national president of the Cyprus Children’s Fund for nine years (he continues to sponsor 20 children in Cyprus over the past 30 years), and serves on boards of many organizations.

He has been honored with the highest award that the Church can bestow upon a layperson, the St. Paul Medal, and was the recipient of the Gold Medal of Honor presented by the president of Cyprus.

When he has time, he pursues his avocation of golf, and has been trying to persuade the Greek government officials to make Greece a major golf destination throughout the year, rather than to rely on the summer tourism season as the major sector of the economy.

“It is difficult for them to understand this,” however, he is persistent and will continue with this effort.